Executive Functioning: Helping Kids Manage Time, Tasks, and Emotions with Mary McDirmid

As the school year is off and running, we get the sense that everyone feels the pressure of juggling many moving parts. Our executive functioning skills are being put to the test, which makes today’s conversation extremely relevant. We are discussing all things executive functioning, including what these skills are and how we use them to complete tasks, manage emotions, and fulfill our obligations. These skills are important to students and adults in any educational setting, but they translate into real-world skills that are valuable in our lives at any age. Kids with learning challenges definitely need more support to learn and master these skills. How can we best teach these important skills? Join us for the conversation!

Show Highlights:

• Executive functioning skills must be taught with the HOW and WHY in mind.
• What is executive functioning?
• Executive function doesn’t automatically happen as a certain birthday comes.
• The steps to help a student develop executive function include showing/modeling, teaching/training, and stepping back to allow independence to occur.
• Simply teaching daily routines, even to preschoolers, develops executive function.
• An example of a useful tool: an assignment triage sheet to manage classwork/assignments
• Task chunking can be done with a variety of tools and devices that help with all facets of time awareness and management.
• “Let’s try this together” is a huge step that is missing, especially with older children.

Resources:

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information about the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org .

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