Webinar for Executive Function

Here are my Highlights and Takeaways from the Executive Function Webinar:

I learned what executive function is! It is frontal lobe that is responsible for behaviour regulation and time management. Immediately I started to think about how issues with executive function could really affect a person in their learning environment as both behaviour and time management are very important in the learning process.

I like the analogies used to describe EF - the CEO or conductor of an orchestra. The CEO or conductor decides what to attempt and what to complete. If this person walked away, a problem would incur.

The Think, Decide, Act slide also helped me to better understand EF. Without the ability to think decide, and act, a person would certainly have a difficult time accomplishing a task. I learned that someone with EF problems has a hard time think about the task, deciding where to begin or what to do next, and has difficulty managing time to complete the task.

The frontal lobe executive function is affected by every psychiatric disorder (ADHD, ODD,CD,ASD).

I also learned that students that have problems with EF can follow a well structured lesson where the teacher is deliberate with information and presents it in a easy to follow layout. However, once that student is alone and left to do a task, they struggle. Examples of these types of situations are tests, long term projects, or answering questions in class.Whenever that student experiences problems with EF they disengage and begin a downward spiral to an ineffective state which may trigger behaviour problems. This makes the student inconsistent with their performance and they may therefore underachieve. Problems with executive function tend to impact a student’s school performance the most.

As I mentioned about, time management is also affected by EF such that students have a difficult time deciding what activity to do first, in what order, and what to complete first. They find is hard to look at the long term picture and goal.

I enjoyed learning about the various apps that can assist  with planning, working memory, time management, organization, and metacognition.

My favourites were:

1) Take A Chill : I like this app because it reminds me of the principles of yoga such as being in the moment, checking in with your whole body one part at a time, taking deep breaths, and grounded yourself. I can see this being very useful and engaging for a student who has anxiety or has trouble self regulating. I think I would use this on my own anytime I find my mind racing and wanted to slow things down and reground myself.

2) Tools for Students: I really liked the graphic organizers available in this app. I immediately thought about ways you could use this app to plot out ideas. I also like that you can use the mic to record ideas to be inserted into the organizers. This is a versatile app that can be used to do many things that could assist someone with their organizational skills. I will definitely be purchasing this app and would love to have access in order to share this on the LCD projector screen with the whole class.

3) Waitstrip: Though simple, I see many uses for this app in the lower elementary classroom. I could have used this app many times over in my classroom this past year. I like how this app allows you to choose how many tasks you are going to complete. I like the tactile aspect of touching the screen, the change in colour, and the sounds of reward. I think this would give a student a sense of satisfaction for having completed the tasks they set out for themselves.

I also liked the social story apps as I feel they could be extremely useful in lower elementary. I would love to find some in french.