style="font-size:15px;"> ☑ You will be able to explain what executive functioning (EF) is and how students can benefit from EF skill training.
☑ You will be able to explain how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and metacognition complement EF skill training.
☑ You will be able to identify the role of supportive technology in EF skill training.
☑ You will be able to describe the 7-Step Model and the Modified 7-Step Model.
☑ You will be able to determine how you might offer EF training in your setting.
As educators, the demands placed upon us today extend beyond the traditional mastery of content knowledge. Held to accountability standards for continual student progress, as measured in part by high-stakes testing, it is our responsibility to deliver instruction in a manner that facilitates learning for all students. Current inclusive practices have resulted in heterogeneous groupings of students with a variety of learning and behavioral needs within most classrooms.
Being held to high standards regarding student achievement and success is not new. In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education produced a report entitled A Nation at Risk that communicated the strong need for major reforms in the educational process in the United States. It emphasized the need for better educational opportunities for all students (https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html). Running parallel to this cry for reform was a movement to grant inclusion to individuals with disabilities in all facets of society. As a result, legislative mandates such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015) continued to raise the bar for educators and students. Even with accountability mandates and a focus on evidence-based practices, too many students today still experience failure or difficulty in school. In some cases, this is a result of deficits related to executive functioning, which plays a critical role in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of adaptive behavior (Welsh, Pennington, Ozonoff, Rouse, & McCabe, 1990). The inclusion of strategies that address executive function deficits needs to become a part of our best practices repertoire.
What is Executive Functioning (EF)?
Executive functioning is a group of processes that allows individuals to self-regulate the ways in which they interact with their environment. Executive function skills develop and improve throughout childhood and into young adulthood.
Executive functioning involves the metacognitive processes of making decisions, planning actions, and generating responses that are adaptive to environmental demands (Reynolds, Horton, & Decker, 2008). There are a variety of models for grouping executive function skills. Brown (2005) identified six clusters of executive functions, while McCloskey, Perkins, and Van Diviner (2001) listed eleven. Still other models group executive functions differently. In this book, we categorize executive function skill areas as follows (see figure 1.1):
FIGURE 1.1 Strosnider and Sharpe Executive Function Categories
Working Memory
Prioritizing, Organizing, Sequencing, Managing Time, and Planning
Attending, Initiating, and Focusing
Controlling Social/Emotional Behaviors and Impulses
Communicating, Cognitive Flexibility/Shifting
The umbrella in figure 1.1 provides a visual of the EF categories as we organize and present them in this book. Each spoke of the umbrella includes a group of executive functions connected to chapters in the book. The EFs from left to right are covered in detail in the same sequence in chapters 2 through 6.
Executive function deficits are recognized in the DSM-5, and we know executive function (EF) deficits may lead to a plethora of inappropriate school and social behaviors. Dawson and Guare (2009) describe students with EF deficits as “smart but scattered.” Researchers at the Child Mind Institute (2015) propose that executive function deficits occur two ways: externally and internally. The student has difficulty externally with behaviors and internally with thinking and learning. External behaviors associated with EF deficits may include losing assignments before turning them in, seemingly not focusing, and not getting started on tasks. Internal behaviors may include difficulty understanding what is expected, problems with taking notes, and/or problems determining what is important in a written passage. Table 1.1 outlines some signs of executive functioning deficits presented by children and adolescents.
TABLE 1.1
If the student is demonstrating many of the descriptors, the next step is to provide intervention. You will find information on interventions throughout this book. As mentioned earlier, executive functions are intertwined and a student may exhibit difficulties in multiple categories. If the interventions are not effective, formal evaluation by a qualified professional may be necessary.
How Do ALL Students Benefit From Executive Function Skills Training?
Executive function skills are essential in the successful completion of life’s everyday tasks. Children are not born with executive function skills, but they do have the ability to develop these skills through explicit instruction. The teaching of such skills may begin as early as preschool. As teachers and administrators, it is important to have proof that explicit training of executive function skills has proven to have positive outcomes. Sasser, Bierman, Heinrich, and Nix (2017) developed the REDI Program, which focused on teaching preschoolers the prereading skills necessary for school success in combination with the social skills needed for getting along with people. Three hundred sixty-five preschoolers from forty-four Head Start programs throughout Pennsylvania participated in this study. Participants’ executive function skills were assessed prior to the skill training. The participants were classified as having either low, medium, or high executive function skills. Students were randomly selected for the control group or the REDI group. The prereading and executive function skill training intervention was then performed. Results showed that children with low executive function skills in the REDI group had less of a decline than those in the control group. This trajectory was sustained through the third grade.
A longitudinal study, Executive Functions Deficits in Kindergarten Predict Repeated Academic Difficulties Across Elementary School, conducted by Morgan et al. (2018) was presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2018 annual meeting. The study tracked 11,000 kindergarten students through the third grade. A major finding of this research was that children who exhibited executive function difficulties in kindergarten, regardless of their race, socioeconomic level, or academic abilities, continued to experience academic difficulties in later years. The authors concluded that early intervention efforts are necessary before children internalize negative feelings about their academic performance and exhibit problem behaviors.
Diamond and Lee (2011) found that executive function skills training not only improved school readiness but positively impacted academic success in students ages four through twelve. As well, executive function skills continue to predict reading and math
