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3 Easy Steps to Make This School Year the Best One Yet
It's that time of year again! Time to go back to school! For some of your kids, this might be an exciting time. They are excited about new teachers and school supplies, and can't wait to see their friends again.
For other kids, this may seem like the worst time of year. They might be anxious about the amount of work they will have this year, or having a new teacher.
Helping Your Students Regulate Their Emotions
Discover effective strategies to support students struggling with emotional regulation in the classroom. Learn how to help them name their feelings, communicate appropriately, and regulate emotions positively. Empower your students for success!
Why You Should Hope Your Child Loses
Every single day children are presented with learning opportunities for Executive Functioning skill development, many of which go unnoticed.
This can be for a few different reasons. First, the child and parents may be focusing on something else. Many of our students struggle with learning disabilities, so the struggle to get through their
#1 Tip for Helping Your Students Time Block Their Homework
Discover the power of time blocking in education and how it can transform your students' learning experience. Learn how to help families understand appropriate homework time limits based on grade levels and identify potential academic struggles early on. Unlock valuable insights to support your students effectively!
The Secret to a Chaos Free Morning
If you are anything like us, your mornings probably go something like this:
"MOM! MOM! I can't find my shoes!"
"They are under the table, where you left them yesterday."
"Mom! I forgot. I need you to sign these 72 papers for my class field trip today!"
"Why aren't you dressed yet? We were supposed to leave 10 minutes ago! Stop playing and go get dressed!" (10 minutes later...still not dressed).
Executive Functioning: Perseverance
I want you to take a second and think about your life. What big challenges have you faced? How did you overcome them? What goal were you trying to reach?
We all have our own struggles and challenges in life that we have to work through in order to reach the goals that we have set for ourselves. The ability to stick with something, even when challenges arise and it is tough, is called perseverance.
Executive Functioning: Flexibility
Flexibility, in terms of Executive Functioning, means to be able to deal with changes and accommodate for problems that come up. This is crucial. Out of all ten of the EF skills, one could argue that this is the one that is the most necessary to get through life. Things change, and if we cannot adapt to those changes, we cannot be successful. Here are some tips on dealing with change.
How Can I Help My Child Pay Attention? EF: Sustained Attention
Sustained attention is the ability to pay attention to something for a long period of time, even if it is a non-preferred task.
While paying attention to something that isn’t interesting to you is hard for anybody, it is especially difficult for our kids with ADHD and other attention struggles. This can affect everything from school, to work, to their social life. Here are a few tips/ tricks to practice with your child to help them build their sustained attention skills.
Executive Functioning: Self-Control
Self-control is the ability to regulate your thoughts, emotions and actions. It is something we always expect kids to have, but never explicitly teach. We may tell kids "use your inside voice" or "this is how you should sit on the carpet in the classroom" or "keep your hands to yourself," but what about in the instances where self-control is hard to practice?
Knowing What You Know and What You Don't Know - EF: Metacognition
There is nothing more frustrating than putting a ton of effort into something, and not having it go well.
I remember when I was in college I had a test coming up in a General Education Physics Class. I knew that Physics wasn’t something that came naturally to me, but I was confident in my ability to learn the material.
Executive Functioning: Working Memory
Working Memory refers to a part of our short-term memory. When information enters this part of our memory, we only have about 5 seconds to interpret it. This means that we have only seconds to process the information, and categorize it into Long-Term Memory in order to be able to remember it later.
Executive Functioning: Time Management
When we look at a child’s Time Management abilities, the first problem we often think of is procrastination. While this can be a huge issue for many of our kids, being able to avoid procrastination is only a small piece of having good time management skills.
Executive Functioning: Organization
When most people think about organization, having their work materials in order or keeping their clothes put away are some of the first things that come up. While these are two important pieces, this Executive Functioning (EF) skill goes much farther than just being a clean person.
Executive Functioning: Planning
Do you ever go to the store without a list and walk out with a bunch of things you don’t need, only to realize you forgot to buy the one thing you needed? How about when you receive an invitation in the mail and forget about the event until right before it starts?
When should a student take responsibility for their learning?
Empower students with learning disabilities to become independent learners! Explore the journey of developing intrinsic motivation and building positive relationships. Unlock the potential for self-discovery, embracing unique learning styles, and fostering strengths. Middle school becomes a crucial phase for cultivating skills that extend beyond interventions, paving the way for a lifetime of confident, independent learning. Dive into the transformative approach advocated by Barbara McCombs to create a supportive learning environment.
Why Can't My Child Follow Directions?
Parents and teachers often mention that it is hard for their dyslexic child or student to follow directions. There are many possible reasons for this and causes can overlap.
The most common reason could be a weakness in one or more learning micro-skills.
Micro-skills are the foundation of learning. We tend to think of intelligence as one specific thing.