Smart but Scattered: Enhancing Executive Skills to Promote School Success
Students with executive skill deficits present tremendous challenges to both parents and teachers who often find themselves frustrated by children whose problems in school seem to have little to do with how smart they are or how easily they learn. Dr. Peg Dawson will describe executive skill deficits and ways to intervene in school and home.
All orders include the entire presentation with handouts and a CE test.
Streaming videos and audio downloads will be available immediately after checkout
Mailed CD and DVD formats include the printed handouts and CE test in an attractive portfolio
Objectives
Participants will be able to describe:
· brain processes involved in executive skill development both in typically developing children and those with executive dysfunction (such as ADHD).
· how executive skills impact school performance and daily living.
· a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies for evaluating executive skills.
· how to make environmental modifications to support weak executive skills.
how to design protocols for teaching executive skills.
Topics
Overview of Executive Skills This includes an introduction to the neuroscience behind executive skills and an overview of the specific executive skills considered to be most critical to school success. Skills are divided into foundational and advanced skills, presented within a developmental context with examples of specific strategies designed to support the development of each skill.
Executive Skills in the Context of Brain Function and Child Development This portion covers the brain processes that support executive skill development as well as a description of how brain development differs in children with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Assessment of Executive Skills This section presents an overview of what a comprehensive assessment of executive skills should incorporate, including drawing on multiple sources of information, and the strengths and limitations associated with each one.
Introduction to Intervention Strategies This section provides an overview of three primary intervention strategies designed to support students with weak executive skills, including a discussion about which strategies to focus on depending on the age of the child.
Environmental Modifications to Reduce the Impact of Weak Executive Skills Three kinds of environmental modifications will be discussed, focusing on two groups of students with specific executive skills profiles: students with ADHD and those with ASD.
Teaching Strategies/Routines to Help Youngsters Develop/Improve Executive Functioning This section will present strategies that parents and teachers can use to embed executive skills into everyday home and school routines as well as an approach to designing intervention strategies to address behavioral issues associated with executive skill challenges.
Designing Student-Center or Child-Centered Interventions This section will outline a step-by-step process for designing interventions that is collaborative and emphasizes student participation in identifying behavioral goals and strategies. Case examples will be provided.
Not approved For NBCC