Five Executive Functioning Skills That Define Your Intervention Framework
People often say to me, “I get why executive functioning is important, but when are you going to tell me how to work on it”?
I wish I could jump right to the lesson plans and “here’s what you do in a perfect hierarchy to work on these skills”. But brains don’t work that way.
That’s why I start with the framework before the lesson plan. The macro before the micro.
When you Google executive functioning, you often get a list of 8 or 9 skills, and a broad definition. This is important information, but it doesn’t tell you “the how”.
It also doesn’t explain how you’d scaffold. That’s why when I help clinicians design executive functioning interventions, I start with five broad areas that start to make those abstract cognitive skills more tangible.
In episode 268 of De Facto Leaders, I explain what those five skill areas are. I also explain why we can’t teach them in isolation, and why they have to be embedded into tasks students are already doing in their daily lives in order for intervention to be meaningful.
In this episode, I mention the Task Execution and Planning Protocol, which gives school clinicians an intervention strategy that takes students from “demand avoidance” and prompt dependence to independence during daily academic and functional tasks.
You can learn more about the Task Execution and Planning Protocol here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/taskexecution
In this episode, I mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day.
You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership
I wish I could jump right to the lesson plans and “here’s what you do in a perfect hierarchy to work on these skills”. But brains don’t work that way.
That’s why I start with the framework before the lesson plan. The macro before the micro.
When you Google executive functioning, you often get a list of 8 or 9 skills, and a broad definition. This is important information, but it doesn’t tell you “the how”.
It also doesn’t explain how you’d scaffold. That’s why when I help clinicians design executive functioning interventions, I start with five broad areas that start to make those abstract cognitive skills more tangible.
In episode 268 of De Facto Leaders, I explain what those five skill areas are. I also explain why we can’t teach them in isolation, and why they have to be embedded into tasks students are already doing in their daily lives in order for intervention to be meaningful.
In this episode, I mention the Task Execution and Planning Protocol, which gives school clinicians an intervention strategy that takes students from “demand avoidance” and prompt dependence to independence during daily academic and functional tasks.
You can learn more about the Task Execution and Planning Protocol here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/taskexecution
In this episode, I mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day.
You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership
Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks and IXL:
We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time.
These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.
We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL.
IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:
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- Improve student performance on state assessments
🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.
