Executive Functionsin the Classroom

Challenges for the Modern Age

The pace of modern technology brings with it many challenges.

Our lives move at a much faster pace than that of our parents or

grandparents:

It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to always be in a hurry. In olden times it was different.

The Medical Record

1884

We have lost the art of conversation:

Conversation is said to be a lost art … good talk presupposes leisure, both for preparation and enjoyment. The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying.

Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, Volume 29

1890

We struggle with concentration and write poorly:

Intellectual laziness and the hurry of the age have produced a craving for literary nips. The torpid brain … has grown too weak for sustained thought.

There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly.

Israel Zangwill, The Bachelor’s Club

1891

We are constantly inundated with information in the form of short summaries (news briefs, Twitter, etc.):

Those who are dipping into so many subjects and gathering information in a summary and superficial form lose the habit of settling down to great works.

Ephemeral literature is driving out the great classics of the present and the past … hurried reading can never be good reading.

G.J. Goschen, First Annual Address to the Students of Toynbee Hall, London

1894

The intense pace of technology affects our mental and physical

well-being.

The existence of mental and nervous degeneration among a growing class of people, especially in large cities, is an obvious phenomenon … the mania for stimulants … diseases of the mind are almost as numerous as the diseases of the body … this intellectual condition is characterized by a brain incapable of normal working … in a large measure due to the hurry and excitement of modern life. With its facilities for rapid locomotion and almost instantaneous communication between remote points of the globe …

The Churchman, Volume 71

1895

Children spend less time on physical activity than ever.

If we teach the children how to play and encourage them in their sports … instead of shutting them in badly ventilated schoolrooms, the next generation will be more joyous and will be healthier than the present one.

Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press Throughout the World, Volume 18

1895

Children rebel against authority.

There is a great tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint, not only against that placed upon them by the will of the parent, but against any restraint or limitation of what they consider their rights … This fact has filled well minded people with great apprehensions for the future.

Rev. Henry Hussmann,

The Authority of Parents

1906

Modern technology allows us to communicate quickly, frequently, but at the cost of quality.

We write millions more letters than did our grandfathers, but the increase in volume has brought with it an automatic artificial machine-like ring … an examination of a file of old letters reveals not only a remarkable grasp of details, but a fitness and courtliness too often totally lacking in the mechanical curt cut and dried letters of today.

Forrest Crissey

Handbook of Modern Business Correspondence

1908

A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worthwhile to put some time and thought and writing into it. Now the quickness and the cheapness of the post seem to justify the feeling that a brief letter today may be followed by another next week – a “line” now by another tomorrow.

Percy Holmes Boynton

Principles of Composition

1915

The Pace of Modern lifevia XKCD.com

What are Executive Functions?

• Theories emerged in the 80s to explain difficulties with attention control, short-term memory, and emotional regulation.

• Sometimes thought of as Metacognition – the ability to “think about thinking.”

• Cognitive processes that regulate, control, and manage other cognitive processes such as working memory, attention, problem-solving, inhibition, mental flexibility, task switching, initiating, and monitoring actions.

Why are executive functions important?

Increased expectations for managing information, schedules, and technology.

Technology can be a tool, a crutch and a source of significant distraction.

To be effective learners in the digital age, kids need executive functioning skills more than ever.

Overview:

• What are executive functions?• What is the typical timeline for development?• How are executive skills developed?• Difference, delay, or deficit?• What are the causes of executive function

deficits?• What can teachers do to support the

development of executive functions?

What are executive functions?

Types of Thinking

• Primitive Skills:– Instinct– Habit– Emotional Responses– Fight/Flight/Freeze

• Thinking, Learning, Reasoning• Executive Functions

Executive Skills

• Initiate• Plan and Organize• Organization• Inhibit• Emotional Control• Working Memory• Shift

Everyday examples:

Initiate:

Getting out of bed once the alarm goes off

Cleaning out a closet

Putting together Ikea furniture with multi-page directions.

Plan and Organize:

Planning a dinner for 12, including shopping, housecleaning, and prepping.

Completing taxes prior to April 15.

Organization

Having a system for putting your keys away in the same place every day.

Getting ready for work without spilling coffee on yourself.

Inhibit:

Not eating that second donut.

Not expressing your honest opinion of a friend’s unfortunate haircut.

Emotional Control:

Recognizing when you are feeling frustrated and taking a break from cleaning out the closet before you do something you will regret.

Working Memory:

Remembering what you were going to get from the next room.

Shift:

Getting off the couch to go work out.

Figuring out a new route to work when there is construction.

Areas of difficulty in the classroom:

• Messy desk, backpack, etc.• Starting tasks• Sloppy, incomplete work• Forgetfulness• Reading comprehension• Poor sense of time or how long things take

• Math accuracy, completion• Multi-step problems or tasks• Emotional over-reactions• Difficulties with regulation – over or under

active• Transitions• Writing• Inability to take responsibility for actions• “He can do it when he wants to.”

Family Circus

Misunderstood Minds:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/attention.html

What is the typical timeline for development?

Early Development

Play

Ages 6-11• Verbal working memory• Goal-Directed behavior• Response inhibition• Selective Attention• Strategies Planning / Organization Skills• Cognitive flexibility`

Later Stages

How do Executive Skills Develop?

Factors that support development:

• Frequent social interactions• Ordered and predictable environments• Scaffolding• Responsive Caregiving

Factors that disrupt or inhibit executive function development:

• Toxic stress• Fight / Flight / Freeze Response• Abuse / neglect

Neuroplasticity

Difference, Delay, or Deficit?

Temporary Deficits

• Hunger• Fatigue / Sleep Disturbances• Transitory stress• Illness• Incorrect caffeine dosage• Second language learning

Differences:

Differences:•Cultural or familial differences in expectations•Poverty (Ruby Payne)

i.e. Relationship with time

Preschool Programs

Choose One:

Explicitly teach executive functioning skills.

Implement PBIS Programs.

Coach children in social-emotional skills.

Delays:

Delays:•Abuse / Neglect•Trauma / PTSD / Toxic Stress

Long term: The above factors can lead to deficits.

Deficits:

• Orphanage rearing• Birth complications• Prenatal alcohol exposure• Frequent changes in primary caregiver• Stress or trauma in the absence of supportive

relationships• Environmental toxins such as lead poisoning

Disability Categories

• Intellectual Disability• ADHD• Autism• Emotional Disturbance• Learning Disabilities• Communication Disorders

Flynn Effect

• Three IQ points each decade.• Violent crime is correlated with lead exposure.• Rates of violent crime began to drop around the time

that unleaded gasoline was introduced.• Poorer neighborhoods often have higher lead levels.• Lead exposure is linked to loss of gray matter in the

prefrontal cortex in children.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline

What can we do to support the development of executive

functions?

School-wide Strategies

Explicitly teach executive functioning skills.

Implement PBIS Programs.

Coach children in social-emotional skills.

Environmental Strategies

• Strong relationships with adults• Safe spaces• Organized, structured

Activities to Promote Executive Functions

• Music• Learning a second language / bilingualism• Strategy games such as chess• Aerobic exercise

Other Teaching Strategies• Teach sustained attention

• Practice work / brain breaks (20-45 mins)

• Metacognitive Questions:– Will this be easy or hard?– How long do you think it will take?– Which one will you do first?– How will you know when you’re done?– Is it complete?– Is this your best work?

• Student-made checklists

• Mental rehearsal

Ellyn Arwood

Teaching Strategies…cont.

• Teach kids to use visual tools such as graphic organizers, lists, diagrams, etc.

• Use of visuals such as 5-point scale:– Emotions– Voice Volume– Task Difficulty

Teaching Strategies…cont.

• Explicitly teach organization and assignment tracking strategies.

• Practice goal-setting

Curriculum

Tools of the Mind: Pre-K / K / Special Needshttp://www.toolsofthemind.org/

Seeing My Time: Grade 5 - Adulthttp://executivefunctioningsuccess.com/

Accommodations

The Surrogate Frontal Lobe

Accommodations

Working Memory Strategies• Minimize the need for working memory by using visuals

and manipulatives.

Initiate• Use visuals or gestures to show where to start a task.• Mental rehearsal.• Rely on routines and habits rather than willpower• Alternate preferred/less preferred activities

Accommodations…

Inhibit• Replacement Behaviors: think about what to do.• Practice Routines and transitions correctly.

Emotional Control

• Teach calming strategies.• Assist the student to calm down before using verbal

problem-solving strategies.• Teach “stop and think” routines.

Accommodations…Shift• Pre-warn of changes• Think aloud to model adjusting to changes• Provide transitional activities• Choreograph transitions (activity, location, staff, materials)

Plan and Organize• Teach organizational routines• Minimize materials needed• Include time for clean up• Teach students to estimate the time needed for tasks.

Which requires more executive skills?

Susie had two flowers in her basket. Her friend Johnny gave her one more. How many flowers did she have in her basket total?

Other Considerations

• Willpower, attention control, and motivation are finite resources.

• Consider alternating intensity levels.

• Provide greater reinforcement for tasks that require sustained attention.

Strategies to keep you sane…

• Assume kids will do well if they can.• Recognize and accept the gap between age and

executive functioning development.• Cultivate an awareness of your own executive

functioning skills.• Understand that teaching students with low

executive skills will require more energy from you.

• Your own energy is finite. Find ways to rest and recharge.