Beyond ADHD: The Educator's Guide to Executive Functioning and Related Best Practice Strategies

Target: All staff

Description: Executive functions, the array of metacognitive and self-regulatory capacities mediated by the frontal lobes of the brain, have profound impact not just on attention and organization, but on virtually all aspects of academic and social functioning. A growing body of research has shown that students across a broad range of learning and emotional disability conditions (and even many ‘non-disabled’ children) struggle with aspects of EF. The influence of frontal lobe functioning on literacy and math skills is also being increasingly revealed, as is the manner in which self-regulatory deficits underlie many types of social learning struggles. In order to truly understand and effectively intervene in the difficulties so many students display in classroom settings, it is essential for educators to develop a strong working knowledge of executive functions. This highly interactive three-part workshop examines the neuropsychology of a broad range of executive functioning skills, with emphasis given to the academic and behavioral implications of EF/self-regulation deficits in school settings. The primary purpose of the training is to build participants’ understanding of the scope/nature of frontal lobe processing difficulties, while providing practical strategies for intervention across academic and social contexts. Limited to 45 participants.

Facilitator: Chris Kaufman

Dates: March 1, March 8 and March 15 (Thursdays)

Time: 3:30 - 5:15 p.m.

Location: Deering High School Library