Overcoming Underachievement in School: Interventions to Promote Executive Skills (Basis of Intervention) Ed Link Foundation May 2006, Manila Pavilion Hotel, Manila

Objectives To understand the basis of interventions on Executive Function Skills in the home, center and the classroom.

Interventions to Promote Executive Skills Strategy 1: Intervene at the level of the environment Strategy 2: Intervene at the level of the person

Intervene at the Level of the Environment Changing the physical or social environment Survey for physical or social impediments to smooth executive functioning What can be removed What can be added Who are the better fit teachers Quality of adult supervision

Intervene at the Level of the Environment Changing the nature of the task Making the tasks: shorter, more explicit steps, close ended, build in variety/choice, providing scoring rubrics General rule of modification: type/level of executive skill demands does not exceed the students skill that he may need help more than 25% of the time to complete the task

Intervene at the Level of the Environment Changing the way cues are provided Verbal prompts Visual cues Schedules Lists Audiotaped cues Pager systems

Intervene at the Level of the Environment Changing the way adults interact with students Anticipate problems and alter environment Intervene early - before a small problem becomes big Reminders can be used to prompt children Situations can be task analyzed

Intervene at the Level of the Person Parents/teachers/therapists initially become the external frontal lobes of the brain

Intervene at the Level of the Person Motivate skills he has but is reluctant to use Teach ways to develop or fine tune what executive skills she needs

Intervene at the Level of the Person Teaching executive skills Describe the problem behavior Be specific, describe those that can be seen or heard Complains about chores or rushes through homework making, many mistakes Not He is lazy. or bad attitude

Intervene at the Level of the Person Teaching executive skills Set a goal directly related to problem behavior Paolo will keep his study desk clean and organized every day.

Intervene at the Level of the Person Teaching executive skills Establish a procedure or a set of steps to reach the goal Usual recommendations: write a checklist, make a calendar

Intervene at the Level of the Person Teaching executive skills Supervise the child following the procedure Remind to begin steps Prompting child to perform tasks Observing child as each step if performed Providing feedback to improve performance Praising the child as each step if done correctly and entire task is completed

Intervene at the Level of the Person Teaching executive skills Evaluate the process and make changes Monitor to identify breakdowns that need to be addressed May need to: Tighten process to add cues Further break down tasks Let child practice problem solving

Intervene at the Level of the Person Teaching executive skills Fade the supervision Prompt child for each step but leave the vicinity between steps Get child started, ensure she finishes, move away as she performs task Cue the child to start, use the checklist to tick off as each step is completed, report when done Only prompt use your checklist.

PARTNERSHIP + COLLABORATION + OPTIMISM______ Successful Learning Formula

Reference Dawson P. and Guare R., (2004) Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention, The Guilford Press, New York, NY