1. Organizing our thinking
Executive Functioning
Organizing our thinking

2. What is Executive Functioning?
Executive functioning is a set of processes that one uses to help with managing oneself and one's resources in order to achieve a goal or task.
Planning
Organizing
Sequencing
Prioritizing
Shifting attention
Time management
Flexible thinking

3. Important skills beyond school
Organize events (trip, party, etc.)
Jobs requirements
Maintain friendships
Improve in hobbies

4. Get Ready – Do – Done Sarah Ward and Kristen Jacobsen Yellow Green Red

5. Visualize Done
Start with done. It’s important to know what “done” looks and feels like before you start to work. Think about… - the length of the assignment - Is done when I finish it at home? - Mental picture of what it will look like to be done - What’s the due date?

6. Get Ready Plan Time Plan Materials Plan Sequence
Ask yourself what you have learned from past experiences that can help you complete this assignment/project.

7. Do What do you look like when you are working? Brainstorming
Calculating
Writing
Asking for help
Think about building in breaks, time checks, and adjusting your plan.

8. What does ”done” look like in each class?
Done isn’t completing the assignment. Done is turning in the work.
Done can look different for different teachers.
Can you define ”done” for each of your classes?
Done can change depending on the assignment.
Don’t forget late work!

9. Roadblocks
Roadblocks are feelings that lead to behaviors, which prevent you from getting your work done.
Feelings Behavior
Anxiety Clean room
Overwhelmed Play on cell phone
Confused Cry

10. Put it to practice… Example
Think about the last assignment you worked on that didn’t get completed all the way, didn’t get turned in, you never started, or wasn’t your best work. With your parent, map out the Get Ready – Do – Done.
Math HW #24 problems 10-25
Get
Ready Do
Done
Example

11. Roadblocks
Look at the example you just made for Get Ready – Do – Done. If there is a roadblock that gets in the way of any of these steps, put a roadblock symbol.
What was the roadblock?
Get
Ready Do
Done
Roadblock

12. Strategies for Roadblocks
What are your roadblocks?
What do you get out of these roadblocks.
Brainstorm strategies that you can use to combat these roadblocks.
Example: Roadblock: Overwhelmed  Playing on cell phone
Strategies: Give parents cell phone, build in reward of cell phone once work is complete, break assignment into manageable chunks, and ask for help as needed.

13. What you can do at home? Define one consistent place to study.
Define one consistent time to study.
Help your student learn to predict time allocation for specific tasks.
Help your student learn to reward themselves in the middle of work.
Create tracking sheet for students to reward progress on completion of long-term assignments.

14. Comparing school to home
School is…
Home is...
Highly Structured
Highly unstructued
Highly inflexible
Highly flexible
Clear time constraints
No clear time contraints
Externally regulated
Internally regulated
Full of distractions

15. How to structure your home time
Take some time at home to work with your student on creating a consistent homework schedule.
Things to consider:
After school activities
Breaks
Meals
Bedtime
Time / period
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

16. Understanding your attention span
FIND YOUR BASELINE
Test this out. See how long you can stay on task without a break.
Are you still able to work effectively?
What can you learn from this?
Redefining what it means to take a break…. A quick stretch or a one minute walk is a great break.
Example:
10 minutes of work
1 minute break
* repeat *

17. Common dilemmas Homework when you first get home vs. break first
More motivating to do easy assignments first vs. long
Start with the subject you like first vs. get the one you dislike out of the way first
Lots of little breaks or no break?

18. Motivation
We often don’t teach motivation because we just expect it will come naturally. Motivation requires you to imagine the emotion of the future. How do you see yourself? How do others see you? How do you want others to see you?

19. Extrinsic & Intrinsic
Extrinsic (rewards that encourage us to do something in order to get something tangible and possibly unrelated to the task)
Intrinsic (thought based rewards; our mind recognizes our accomplishments, step by step and provides us with a feeling of satisfaction as we move through a task).

20. Goals and Action Plans
Goals are the thinking part- Action Plans are the doing part. Set a goal that you can accomplish. Come up with the action steps to accomplish your goal (Action Plan). Most important- make sure that goals and actions plans are realistic.

21. Motivation to Accomplish Goals
It’s important to have a strategies to stay motivated to accomplish the action plans to achieve our goals. We need our inner coach to encourage us to stick with it.
Action Plan
Supporting inner-coach thoughts
Self-defeating comments
How can you encourage your Inner Coach and help silence your self-defeating voice?

22. Final Thoughts…
Is the student getting a lot of help and sympathy for not getting through the task, so you are actually emotionally rewarded for your lack of effort.
Help your students learn to be comfortable with their discomfort.
Are you being the brain for your student?

23. Resources Michelle Garcia Winner’s website: www.socialthinking.com
Sarah Ward and Kristen Jacobsen’s website: