Having reviewed the above information, consider how the student’s strengths and difficulties are exhibited in terms of academic, communicative, and social/emotional behaviors. Determine whether the student has deficits in any of the following executive function areas:
Working Memory
Prioritizing, Organizing, Sequencing, Managing Time, and Planning
Attending, Focusing, and Initiating
Controlling Social/Emotional Behaviors, Inhibiting Behaviors
Communicating, Cognitive Flexibility/Shifting
Determine from all of the information collected how the executive function difficulty presents. What behaviors does the learner exhibit that provide evidence of an executive function difficulty? Match the student’s EF skill area personalizing what the EF difficulty looks like for the student(s).
An Executive Function Planning Chart, such as the one shown in table 1.5, may be used in this step.
Executive Function Planning
TABLE 1.5 Sample Executive Function (EF) Planning Chart
Step 2
Review the EF Planning Chart with the student and start to develop a Game Plan.
Reviewing the EF Planning Chart will guide the skills training for the specific executive function area. Whether you have the results of either formal or informal assessments or only informal assessments, it is important to discuss the results with the student and his or her parents. Once areas of executive functioning weakness are identified, you can begin developing the Game Plan with the student. The Game Plan starts the process of having the student “buy in” to the strategy. It enables the student to understand his or her areas of strength and difficulty. This understanding and awareness will later lead to student self-advocacy and greater independence in his or her learning process. The Game Plan includes the student’s strengths, difficulties, goals for improvement, and strategies selected to enhance executive functioning through UDL and appropriate strategies.
Directions for Starting a Student Game Plan
Base the Game Plan on the information gleaned from the records review, surveys, interviews, and the student’s Executive Function Planning Chart.
Identify the executive functions to work on based on information shared by the student and others.
Work with the student to identify three things he or she does well and put them at the top of the Game Plan, under “What I do best.” (See figures 1.9 and 1.10.)
Work with the student to identify three goals and record them under “Things I would like to do better.” (“Things I can do to help with my difficulties in school” will not be completed until the UDL planning process is finished and strategies have been selected, in step 3.)
Consider strategies in step 3 to teach the student that will improve the executive function skill. (When selecting strategies to use for the Game Plan, consider other interventions being used in the classroom or at home to avoid duplicating efforts.)
Blank templates, modifiable versions of materials, and strategy cards can be found at http://resources.corwin.com/ExecutiveFunctioning.
FIGURE 1.9 The Student Game Plan for Elementary Students
FIGURE 1.10 THE STUDENT GAME PLAN FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS
Step 3
Considering UDL and metacognition, select an EF skill-building strategy and get commitment from the student. Add the strategy to the Game Plan.
To optimize the learning of all students, least of all students with executive function deficits, it is imperative to incorporate the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into lessons: Multiple Means of Representation, Multiple Means of Action and Expression, and Multiple Means of Engagement. As a teacher, it is imperative that lessons are flexible, adaptable, and customizable, making them accessible to all learners. Following the guidelines of UDL will help ensure your lessons incorporate techniques and tools that provide options and scaffolds for executive functions.
Incorporating the metacognitive process, consider your student’s learning needs, including EF deficits and strengths, to select the manner of teaching best suited to the student. Also consider the executive function and other needs of all students in the class. Decide how you will account for the student’s particular executive function deficits and learning needs in the lesson, as well as in pre-, formative, and summative assessments. Select approaches, material customizations, supports, options, modifications or adaptations, and tools, including assistive technology, to include in instruction. Some supports will benefit all learners or multiple learners, while others will be applicable to only the student in question. At the same time, start thinking about EF skill-building strategies you can teach the student while modeling metacognition throughout the process.
Once you have determined the executive function skill and skills that are most important for the lesson, how the student’s EF deficit will impact his or her learning, and how to design the lesson using UDL principles, consider which EF skill-building strategies to teach the student to help address the deficit. Each chapter includes several different strategies that can be used to address the EF function area addressed in that chapter.
Table 1.6 provides a structure for planning, integrating UDL and metacognition, and choosing an appropriate strategy for use with the student. The components in this table should be thought about prior to teaching the student the strategy. Table 1.6 is to be used to guide your thinking about the components involved when selecting a strategy for the student. A blank template for this chart is provided in the Appendix 1.10, and blank templates, modifiable versions of materials, and strategy cards can be found at http://resources.corwin.com/ExecutiveFunctioning.This process is flexible as to both your needs and the needs of your student. After a strategy is selected, add it to the student’s game plan.
Questions for the student to answer are listed on table 1.7. Using these tables will lead you through a process that results in appropriate strategy selection.
TABLE 1.6
Once you and the student have selected a strategy, add the strategy name to the “Things I can do to help with my difficulties in