Tag: education

Great Book on Processing Speed

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Processing Speed, working memory

 

 

 

Bright Kids Who Can’t Keep Up by Ellen Braaten, Ph.D. and Brian Willoughby, Ph.D. (2014) is the first book I have found that gives both an overview of processing speed and advice to help parents and schools provide intervention. The authors have done a great job of explaining a very complex issue. Here are excerpts from the book that I think can help you gain an understanding of processing speed. I highly recommend the book.

 

 

Processing Speed Overview

In general processing speed involves the amount of time it takes a person to perform one or more of the following functions:

  1. Perceive information
    1. This can be to any of the senses, but is usually through visual and auditory
  2. Process information
  3. Formulate or enact a response.

* Simply put processing speed can be defined as how long it takes to get stuff done.

Kids and adults who are slower at these types of processing tasks are sometimes assumed to be lacking in intelligence, but this really isn’t the case. However, processing speed does interact with other areas of cognitive functioning by negatively impacting the ability to quickly come up with an answer, retrieve information from long-­‐term memory, and remember what you’re supposed to be doing at a given time. In other words, it’s possible that someone with slow processing speed will, as a result, be impaired in other areas of thinking and may even score lower on tests of intelligence.

How do I know if my child has a slow processing speed?

To assess processing speed deficits a formal assessment by professional is recommended. Many times students with processing speed issues will also demonstrate signs of another underlying problem, the most common being attention problems. The second largest category of children with processing speed deficits are those with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, nonverbal learning disabilities, language-­‐based learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders (including pervasive developmental disorder and Asperger’s syndrome). Other children may suffer more transient processing speed deficits with psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, or psychosocial stressors. A final category of children with processing issues are those who don’t fall into any of these categories but who perform poorly on time tests as compared to untimed tests. This category of children has are sometimes diagnosed with something called a “ learning disorder, not otherwise specified”. More recent terminology refers to it as a learning disability with this specific impairment in reading, writing or math fluency.

Types of processing speed

Processing speed isn’t a one-­‐dimensional concept. It’s not just how fast we see, how fast we write, or how fast we can process what we heard; it’s really a combination of all those factors. In fact processing speed deficits can be observed in visual processing, verbal processing, and motor speed. Problems in one or more of these areas can manifest in problems with academic fluency and general difficulties.

 

Will my child ever get any faster?

 

  1. Changes in processing speed are likely related to the impact of practice and experience. Research on processing speed has shown that the more time someone repeats the task, the more automatic and thus quicker the response becomes.
  1. The speed increases are also due to structural changes in the brain that happen naturally as it develops during childhood.

 

These two factors, experience and growth, are crucial to increasing processing speed during the childhood and adolescent years.

 

Processing Speed and Executive Functioning

 

Processing speed is considered an important executive function skill. Executive function skills allow us to successfully use our intelligence and problem-­solving abilities. These skills include abilities such as goal setting, planning, organizing, prioritizing, remembering information in working memory, monitoring our behavior, and shifting back and forth between different tasks are typically. Imagine that executive function is the car and processing speed is the engine. Having a faster engine or more powerful engine means the car can go faster, good executive function depends on the quality of the engine. More efficient engines allow the car to function at a higher level of efficacy.

 

Is processing speed just another term for reaction time?

 

The answer is no. Reaction time is part of processing speed. Processing speed also includes how quickly a child can integrate new information, retrieve information from memory, and perform certain tasks. It can be visual, verbal, motoric, or a combination of all three; and it can be content specific in reading, writing, motor, or math. Although a child with slow processing speed will often show problems across a number of areas.

 

Practical strategies for accommodating slow processing speed at school

 

  • Advocate for extra time
  • Teach time management skills
  • Keep an extra set a textbook at home
  • Take advantage of technology is a timesaver
    • Use of the computer
  • Ask for examples of completed homework for your child to review before doing a assignment
  • Make sure assignments are clearly structured and uncluttered
    • Clear beginning and end points
    • No redundancy: allow students to only do enough problems to demonstrate that they understand the concepts rather than do many practice problems after they understand.
    • Simple uncluttered visuals
  • Avoid multitasking
    • Ask for alternatives to notetaking during lectures: getting notes in advance, getting an outline, getting an auto recording

 

Processing speed in social relationships

 

There is a big association between processing speed and social skills. Regardless of any diagnosis, children with slow processing speed are at greater risk for social deficits. They have higher rates of social and language delays in early childhood. We also found that nearly half of children with slow processing speed had some problem with communication in early childhood i.e. being slow to talk. This combination of slow processing speed and language delays is a recipe for social problems at an early age. The most frequently reported problems were difficulties with social communication, social awareness, and social cognition. These problems included things such as difficulty spontaneously complementing others, problems quickly picking up on social cues from peers, and a reluctance to join group activities.

 

How does slow processing speed affect the child’s friendships?

 

  • Children with slow processing speed take longer to pick up on social cues in general, thus missing the point of the social exchange
  • Interactions can seem stilted or awkward because it takes them a long time to figure out a response
  • They lose track of what’s happening during pretend player games, causing their peers to become frustrated with them
  • They are disorganized in relating stories are reporting events, causing peers to lose interest in what they are
  • Reactions to jokes and sarcasm can be just a few seconds behind, which can make them seem a bit off to their peers
  • Slow work performance makes it difficult when working with a group and on group assignments

Provide support for organization and communication

In addition to general interventions, kids with slow processing speed often need help organizing their thoughts so they can communicate better. They frequently have difficulty expressing themselves clearly and concisely and may make comments that are poorly organized and sequenced. Their frequent problems with quick word retrieval and verbal organization cause them to talk around the subject and make it difficult for the listener to know what they’re trying to say.

Read the book to learn more about processing speed. I found the information to be thoughtful, relevant and easy to understand. The area of processing speed and how it is impacting students in the classroom needs to given more attention.

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Building Executive Functioning Skills May Be The Best Intervention For Increasing Processing Speed.

Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing

 

Processing speed is becoming a stumbling block for many students. The number of students who are requesting extra time on tests has increased tremendously over the years. What does it mean to have a processing speed dysfunction?  The case studies below are examples of how processing speed issues can vary from student to student.

  • Don is a quiet shy boy who loves skateboarding and hanging out with his family. He is sweet and everyone likes him, however he has no close friends. Don does not initiate conversations or join in conversations with friends at school, which keeps him from being part of the “group”.  Don moves at his own pace and cannot be rushed. Don’s slow processing is global. He is slow moving (except on a skateboard!), slow reading and writing, slow to take in verbal information and to respond verbally to questions.  Don can now read and write at grade level, but his reading and writing fluency are slow. Don continues to have difficulty finding the right words to express his ideas and still would rather sit back and watch a group than join in. Don needs extra time to take in, process and organize his ideas before responding regardless of the type of task presented. 
  • Sara is 8 years year old and quick as quick can be to let you know her opinions. She is highly social and very verbal. Her reading and reading comprehension skills are strong. Sara struggles with slowing down when she is writing. Her handwriting skills are poor and her spelling is weak. She makes careless errors on math problems, which causes her to lose points and get low grades. When asked to write for school Sara quickly becomes upset. Homework is a stressful and prolonged activity. Sara’s fine motor skills are weak and she hates writing. Her weakness in handwriting and organizing her thoughts cause her to avoid writing and she often turns in incomplete work. Sara needs extra time to allow her to stop and think, organize her thoughts and narrow them down in to a manageable amount of information to write down. She also needs extra time to allow her to slowly and carefully write the words on paper.
  • Alex has been diagnosed with a Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD). One of the main components of NLD is a lack of organizational skills. This means that Alex has a hard time putting all the pieces of information he gathers together to allow him to come to a meaningful conclusion. Breaking down instructions in order to follow them is a challenge, so Alex often just guesses at what he is supposed to do based on pictures or looking at what other are doing. Alex needs extra time to circle and highlight the important information in texts and worksheets so that he can focus on the most important part. He also needs extra time to contemplate the information and come to meaningful conclusion.

Each of these children struggle with processing speed, but the cause of their struggle is different. Weak fine motor skills and/or organizational skills are common factors in processing speed issues. While for many students the fine motor skills are a chief cause of frustration, I am beginning to consider weak executive functioning skills a key factor affecting processing speed.

Young children can work to improve their fine motor skills and therefore increase their processing speed, if that is the main cause of the processing speed deficit. However, for older children and those whose processing speed deficit is cognitively based, building executive functioning skills will be the best intervention for increasing processing speed.

I invite you to take our free executive functioning quiz and find out what skills are strong, and which are weak for you or your child.

Here is a list of Executive Functioning skills:

Initiation

•

 starting work

Inhibition

•

 stopping off-task behavior

Shift

•

 moving from one activity to another

Working Memory

•

 remembering information for immediate use

Planning

•

 setting goals and the steps to accomplish them

Organizing Materials

•

 tracking items in work spaces

Time Management

•

 allotting appropriate time for each task

Monitoring

•

 judging the quality and pace of work

Emotional Control

•

 regulating stress and distractibility

For many of the students I see with a processing speed issue, the executive functioning skills of initiate, shift, plan, time management and emotional control are difficult for them. I consider the ability to shift as the most important skill to develop. If a child gets stuck on an idea and can’t let go of it to consider a new idea, nothing can change. If a child gets frustrated and shuts down he can’t find solution to the problem, rather he becomes overwhelmed and defeated. Many students with this profile need to learn new ways to approach tasks so that they can hone in on the most important part. To help them save time and therefore speed up, these students can learn new organization skills that will help them start and finish work in a timely manner. However, they need to be flexible thinkers to do this.

For students with this profile I suggest they build flexible thinking skills first and then organization skills. You can read my blog article on building flexible thinking skills to learn more. I also created The Flexible Thinking Workbook to help students build these very important skills.

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How Does A Low Processing Speed Score Affect My Child?

Executive Functioning, Learning, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

Question: My 16 year old son has just had an evaluation and he was given the following scores on the test: 
 PRI 132, VCI 130, WMI 110, PSI 76
. I don’t understand how exactly this affects him, though I do notice he is a bit slow on some activities. How does the combination of the factors above translate into his abilities?

My son also can be difficult to deal with. He often does not like to work on any work assigned to him (It’s difficult to get him to do homework), which causes him to sometimes not hand in homework assignments. He is also quite disorganized, and procrastinates often. Socially, he is withdrawn and shy, even with people he knows.  He does have a few friends, and he can be lively around them. I wouldn’t say he has any deficits in communication, as he can still communicate well, and I think he just does not prefer to communicate or is shy.

 Answer: Your child has developed a strong vocabulary and is easily able to explain his understanding of socially based concepts. Your child’ ability to quickly and efficiently process auditory information, especially verbal information, is excellent. His ability to perform visual spatial problem solving is also very strong.

However, while your child demonstrates well-developed cognitive skills his ability to process information at the level his reasoning skills suggest is compromised by several factors present in testing. First, your child’s ability to read and synthesize material in a timely manner may be affected by his weakness in visual-discrimination and processing speed. His weak processing speed impacts his ability to process visual information as quickly as his strong cognitive skills suggest. This can impact his ability to read, write and perform math problem quickly.

Taken together, the significant discrepancy  between your child’ Verbal Comprehension and his Processing Speed Indexes; along with the differences between Perceptual Organization and Working Memory Indexes and Processing Speed Index, reflects a need for extended time on academic tasks and tests. Therefore, it is recommended that your child be granted extended time on all assignments and tests, including standardized testing such as the SAT and ACT. Furthermore, Your child’s current profile confirms he has  a visual perceptual and visual motor processing deficit and accommodations are warranted to allow your child additional time, or a reduction in work on all academic tasks.

The issue of your son’s lack of desire to communicate could be due to many reasons. There is a great book out called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking 
by Susan Cain. This might be a good book for you to read to determine if your son is an introvert, which may explain his lack of interaction with people around him.

The issue of his disorganization and difficulty completing homework may be due to weak executive functioning skills. You can learn more about executive functioning at http://executivefunctioning.com.

RECOMMENDATIONS & ACCOMMODATIONS

• It is recommended that the results of his evaluation be shared with your child so he may understand his profile of strengths and weaknesses and can adjust his learning and study strategies accordingly.

• Based upon your child’s status as a student with a Learning Disability, he should be provided the following accommodations:

  • Extra time on tests (at least 50%)
  • Extended time (at least 50%) on all standardized tests including ACT, SAT and AP tests

Improve your child’s Working Memory, Attention and Executive Functioning Skills

• The CogMed program is recommended to build your child’s working memory, which will help support his attention processing.

• A program designed to improve your child’s executive functioning skills (such as the K & M Center Executive Functioning Program) is recommended.

• A program designed to increase your child’s cognitive flexibility is also recommended (such as the K & M Flexible Thinking Program)

• Teach your child to use self-talk to organize his learning and performance strategies and to focus his attention on tasks

• Build strategies to help your child analyze, prioritize, and execute specific steps in a given assignment

• Break down tasks and follows the order checking work along the way

• Teach strategies to increase engagement

Writing


• Encourage pre-writing activities such as brainstorming and outlining

• Use of Inspiration (Inspriation.com) and Dragon Speak Naturally (http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm) to help him organize his thoughts and share them.

• Re-Train the Brain (Retrainthebrain.com) can help fine motor skills to make writing easier.

Visual-Perceptual Strategies

• Use graphic organizers to depict information visually and increase his retention of ideas.

• Note-taking techniques that will present and summarize heard information visually.

• Practice exercises to sharpen his ability to attend to visual detail and to express similarities and differences between images.

Processing Speed

• Allow extra time for tests, usually time and a half

• Provide extra time for your child to complete in-class assignments

• Train your child in time management techniques to become aware of the time that tasks take.

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How to help your child succeed in middle school

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences

Communication is the key to success in Middle School

Last week Mrs. Smith came to visit me and discuss her daughter, Sarah. Sarah is in seventh grade and has been struggling all year. Last year in sixth grade Sarah earned all A’s and B”s on her report card.  Sarah has a history of doing well in school. At the beginning of seventh grade Sarah began experiencing difficulty in a class or two, but she promised her mother that she would work harder and handle it. All year long Sarah promised her mother that she would do better. However, Sarah was not able to take control of her schoolwork and pull up her grades.

Teacher comments on Sarah’s report cards consistently stated that she was missing homework and doing poorly on tests. Sarah’s mother trusted her because Sarah had always done well in school. Mrs. Smith did not realize until too late that Sarah needed some academic support to help her to well in seventh-grade.

This story is important. The transition between elementary school and middle school can place an extraordinary load on a child’s organizational, planning and follow-through skills. Many students have not developed, or needed, executive functioning skills prior to middle school. The tragedy of this is when you have a strong student like Sarah who suddenly fails three classes.

It is important for parents to realize what they need to do to help their children succeed in middle school. I wish that Sarah’s mother had come to us in October or November of last year and we could have set up a plan to help her get her work done and turned in on time.

Communication is the key to success.

The communication needs to be between the teachers, the parents and the child. This sounds like a simple task, but as many middle school parents know it is not. If your child is at a school where teachers have an online homework program, that they actually keep up to date, then it is important for parents and students to check that online tool and make sure the child knows what needs to be done and when it needs to be turned in.

Many middle school teachers find it difficult to keep these online homework sites updated.  Without the online homework check it can become a challenge for parents to know what assignments their child has. So what can you do?

  •  Have a meeting with the teacher
  • Find a friend who is a good note taker and is willing to help update your child on what is due
  • Have your child take a picture of the assignments listed on the board
  •  Request that the school give you weekly updates on unfinished assignments and outstanding homework
  • Check in with your child every night, go through the notebook and planner to help them get organized.
  •  Create a homework calendar where weekly and monthly assignments are written down
  • Understand that you are teaching your child the steps to success and that this is a process that will take time.
  •  Don’t wait more than a month if your child begins to struggle in school
  • Ask for help and find a system that works for your family

Middle school is a very exciting and trying time as your child goes through developmental growth, both mentally and physically. It is a time when children require more independence, however they are not always ready for parents to step back completely. This is the time period where parents transition from teacher to coach, guiding their children to develop the skills that they need to succeed.

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Executive functioning skills: How To Get Your Child To Follow The Plan

ADHD, Behavioral Regulation, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Thinking Skills

 

The coach comes, plans are made, checklists are created with extensive “TO DOs” and then what?  Nothing!

Students with executive functioning deficits have difficulty planning, organizing and initiating projects and homework. A tutor or coach can help students fill in their planner and breakdown their assignments to make a weekly “TO DO” plan, but they can not make the student follow the plan once they leave. Creating the plan is one thing, following the plan is another.

Parents and coaches often tell me how frustrating it can be to create a fabulous plan for the student only to find that the student didn’t follow through. Building executive functioning skills and study strategies takes time and practice. Remember back to when your child was learning his multiplication tables? What did the teacher tell you? Learn the concept, then drill and practice, drill and practice, drill and practice! Learning executive functioning skills is no different! To develop an understanding of executive functioning skills, you must first set up goals and explain how the brain works. Once the student understands what is expected, it is time to start the drill and practice, drill and practice, drill and practice!

One of the challenges many parents face is that executive functioning skills become more of a challenge in middle school. Many children are developmentally ready to become more independent and separate from their parents in middle school.  However, this is a transitional phase towards independence and many students still need their parents to help them scaffold new skills.  The executive functioning skill set is new to many middle school students.

So, what is the best way to get students to follow plan, use checklists, turn in homework, and build their independence at the same time? Most parents and executive functioning coaches / tutors face this challenging question. To help children learn new skills, you have to go back to the theory of scaffolding. Scaffolding new ideas and skills is like building a high-rise. First, you build the scaffolding on the outside the building to support the framework on the inside. The scaffolding stays up until the building is stable. At that point, the foundation is strong and the scaffolding can be taken down. This is what we need to be thinking about with children. We need to create the external structure–the scaffolding–and keep it in place until they have learned the skill. Once the skill is in place the scaffolding comes down.

Checklists, charts, study plans, apps for time management and check-in’s are all very effective scaffolding tools for students. However, we are looking for the external tools that the students can rely on to help them know what to do next and when to do it. It is important to remember that they still need reminders to check their checklists, planners and homework online. I have found that it is best if these reminders are automatic and not given by parents; rather, we use the student’s iPhone, iPad or other electronic device to create reminders and email alerts. There are many tools available now to alert a child to check his or her checklists.

At our center, we create an alert that shows up on the child’s phone, iPad, computer, etc. reminding the students to check their planner and update their study plan. They then have another alert half an hour before bedtime to check if everything has been done and put in their backpack. These alerts can be set to automatically alert the student every day, so they don’t depend on the student remembering to make a note. Once the students setup these alerts with the tutor/coach, it is time to involve the parents.

To help parents monitor their student’s progress, the student explains the plan to the parents. The student can then share their homework plan with their parents. Once this is done, it is updated automatically, allowing parents to use their phones or computers to confirm that their child is updating the study plan. We then ask the parents to set up alerts as well. The parents’ alerts are simple: 10 minutes after the student receives the alert, the parents receive an alert reminding them to check in with the student. We let students know that they will get their alert 20 minutes before bedtime, or whatever amount of time students and parents think is reasonable, and the parents will get an alert 10 minutes after the child’s alert. This allows the students to get started before the parent is alerted to make sure all work has been done for the evening.

Designing a plan is very important, and implementing the plan is critical. It is important to work with both students and parents to create a plan that can be followed up on daily basis. Our center often uses another system—daily emails—to help students develop a daily habit of checking, updating, and completing their study plan. The academic coach can send out a checklist that the student completes each night. The student’s responses are saved and sent to the academic coach where they can be easily compiled. This provides an additional reminder and allows the academic coach to gauge the student’s progress.

In creating a system like this, it is important to remember that success will not be 100% immediately. The entire support team—the academic coach, the parents and the student–must create an achievable goal. Success breeds success. Find out what percentage of homework is being done and use that as your baseline to create a new goal. For example, if the student turns in 50% of the homework now, the new goal would be to turn in 70%. Recognition of success is important for the child to see that he or she is making progress and that this hard work is worth it.

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Processing speed issues are challenging at all ages

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing

Sara is now 22 years old and still struggling with processing speed issues.  Here is Sara’s story:

When I was 12 years old, I was diagnosed with slow processing speed, given a 504 plan, and told this was a part of my life that 1) would not go away and 2) I would have to get used to. I thought I was mentally handicapped. My mom is a special education teacher, and she explained to me that this did not mean I lacked intelligence, but that it took longer for me to process information. This proved true when, in seventh grade, with an influx in work and sport activity, I stayed up until 1 or 2 every night finishing my homework.

I have always been motivated to not only complete assignments, but to do the best I can on them. However, this diagnosis became an excuse for any mistakes I made – so if ever I did not understand something right away, I laughed it off to slow processing. But, inside I was an emotional wreck questioning myself and my abilities. I know you’ve worked with a lot of children who have this, so I’m sure you see when they first come in your office that their confidence is very low. Confidence has always been a struggle for me, and it wasn’t until I really pursued writing (I wrote a 250 page novel when I was 14, still hidden away on my bookshelf) that I gained a little confidence in myself. But my confidence level is a roller coaster ride, and varies all the time.

 Now that I have given you a bit of background, I would like to ask you a question. I am 22 years old, and very unhappy with my processing abilities. I recently read a book by Joshua Foer titled Moonwalking with Einstein about Foer’s yearlong journey to improve his memory that concluded in his winning the United States Memory Championship. This book was an inspiration to me because it made me finally realize that the brain can change – something no one had educated me on when I was a 12-year-old, scared, recently diagnosed kid.

I graduated from college a little less than a year ago now with a degree in English and minor in Psychology. I currently work at a publishing company in New York, and am incredibly happy with how my life has gone. I have “compensated” for my disability – as my mom always said I would, but I want more than that. I want to be able to change my processing abilities. I want to have intelligent, abstract conversations with people that don’t end with me saying, “let me think about that a little more.”

 So, finally my question is, what do you recommend I do to improve my processing abilities? I know the process will be difficult, but I also know how beneficial it will be for the rest of my life. It has taken me a lot to get to the point I am at now, admitting that I am faulted in my processing abilities, but there is hope on the horizon if there is something I can do about it. Please let me know if you have any advice for me. I would much appreciate it.

 Thank you for your time and consideration. I admire what you are doing for children and parents, and only hope that one day I can share my experiences and help out someone just like me.

Sara’s story is inspirational. While she still struggles to think quickly on her feet, she has dealt with her slow processing speed, graduated from college and landed a great job that makes her happy. What more do we want for our children? It shows that with support and guidance the diagnoses of a processing speed issue is not a reason to despair.

Sara’s mother believed in Sara and was practical and realistic in her advice. I think this is a key factor in Sara’s success. Her mother explained that being slow is not the same as being dumb. If you are reading this because your child is slow, please find out about your child’s intellectual strengths and highlight those strengths when you talk to your child. Remind him often of what he is good at. The strengths you pick need to real; children know the truth about themselves even if they can’t articulate it. So, be real and encouraging.

Now to Sara’s question, what can she do to continue to increase her processing speed? Sara is referring to cognitive processing speed, how fast she can take in and process information, organize it and then respond. This is different than visual-motor processing speed that refers to how quickly you can take in visual information and then draw or write it. Sara wants to be an active participant in a fast paced, intellectual conversation.

Processing speed (PS) training has been found to be effective in adults.  One study, Effects of Training of Processing Speed on Neural Systems investigated the effects of PS training on the PS of young adults and on neural mechanisms. The results demonstrate that PS training increased brain plasticity (the brain’s ability to change).  The results of the study also found that a wide range of cognitive interventions involving speeded training tasks led to an improvement in cognitive functioning.

It is worthwhile to note that the PS training improved PS but not working memory, reasoning, or creativity. To achieve Sara’s goal of participating in fluid conversation, she may need to build her processing speed as well as her working memory. There are programs that are designed to do just that. At the K&M Center we use:

  • Cogmed to build working memory skills
  • PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement) to build visual and auditory processing
  • Flexible Thinking Program to build cognitive flexibility

Other Programs I have not used but are available and look effective, include:

  • Brain HQ:  exercises your memory, attention, and more
  • Lumosity:  trains a range of cognitive functions, from working memory to fluid intelligence
  • Brain Training 101 Program: training exposes each student to a customized series of intense mental workouts

These training programs are designed to build neuro-pathways that help information flow around the brain faster. Studies show beneficial results. Research continues to investigate the methods, amount of time and results of processing speed interventions. It can be presumed that actively engaging the part of the brain you want to develop will strengthen it. The term “build the brain” refers to the brain as a mental muscle and we know exercising muscles makes them stronger and more effective.

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Executive Functioning Workbook

ADHD, Behavioral Regulation, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Thinking Skills

 By Melissa Mullin, Ph.D. and Karen Fried, PysD.

Planning, organizing and following through on your plans require strong executive functioning skills. Developing these skills can take patience, guidance and practice. There are parents, teachers, executive functioning coaches and tutors who do a great job of guiding students towards mastery of their time, workload and achievement. The K & M Center has been working on building executive functioning skills in all of our students for the past 15 years.

We have found the ability to STOP and THINK, along with the ability to talk yourself through a task, helps develop executive functioning skills. The challenge for students with weak executive functioning skills is to not get lost in their own thoughts. They want to get the work done, they just aren’t able to follow the path from A to Z without getting stuck or distracted.

Picture a new high-rise building being built. First the foundation is created, then the scaffolding is built to support the structure until it is strong enough to stand on its own. When the foundation has proven to be secure, and the building structure is stabilized, the scaffolding is removed and the new building stands on its own. This analogy has long been used for learning new skills and is apropos regarding executive functioning.

Every teacher knows that the content areas like reading, writing and math need strong foundations of basic skills: phonics, fine motor skills, spelling, number sense and counting. The basic skills start to be developed in kindergarten and first grade. There is a sequential path of developing the student’s knowledge year by year and adding the new information layer by layer. Unfortunately, no sequential system exists at this time to build executive functioning skills.

Recent studies are highlighting the benefits of play in preschools in the development of executive functioning skills. However, very little research has been done on how to develop these skills in grade school children. What we do know is that not all students learn these skills automatically. Rather they need the steps broken down for them so that they can practice the skills over and over until they have been internalized. Once the skills are internalized the students own them and no longer need external guidance to complete a task.

The TLC Executive Functioning Workbook provides external scaffolding that gives support and guidance so that students can learn to internalize a system that helps them master their thoughts and therefore their behavior and workload.

I am very pleased to announce that we have finally finished the Targeted Learning Concepts (TLC) Executive Functioning Workbook so we can offer it outside our center to those of you who can benefit from what it offers.

The TLC Executive Functioning Workbook increases the student’s ability to plan, start, and finish work autonomously. It exercises the neurological activity that creates Executive Functioning by identifying the student’s aims and challenges, building thinking skills, and practicing organizational strategies. The program establishes academic independence as the student determines goals and develops the habits that will achieve them.  

Learn more

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The Frustrated Learner

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Math, Processing Speed, Reading, Spelling, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

The Frustration Profile article on my blog, which is about students with high verbal skills and weak motor skills, has gotten more hits and comments than any other blog article I have written.  What I’m realizing is that all students who have learning issues or have any significant discrepancies in their learning profile, tend to become frustrated with academic tasks.

When I explain learning differences to parents I often talk about the feeling a smart student has when there are holes in his learning profile. It is like sending a child out on a field that has bear traps; you know the kind, where the hole is covered with grass so you can’t see it but when you step on it you fall in. These students can do some things really well but other tasks are hard. This type of student is constantly surprised by what he can and can’t do. This uneven cognitive foundation and constant disappointment causes children to become insecure about their abilities. So, basically all children with learning disabilities are set up to become frustrated.

The question is: how do you help these students? This is where testing and evaluations become critical.  Students who have significant strengths along with significant weaknesses are always going to have areas that trip them up. In order for these students to feel secure they need a stable cognitive baseline that they understand. This is what Mel Levine describes as “the demystification process”. The demystification process means taking the mystery out of how the brain works. The process requires you to shine a light on the child’s strengths and weaknesses. It would no longer be a mystery, for example, why math homework is difficult for a student with visual processing difficulties. You explain to him, “ You are very smart, you can do all this math in your head because of your strong working memory ability.  However, because you have difficulty with visual motor tasks, it is hard for you to write the work down. This does not mean you are dumb. It means you have an area that we need to develop”.  Then you create a plan to develop that area of weakness. This is important information for the child to understand. He needs to know that you can be smart and still struggle in school. Let me say that another way, you can struggle in school, and still be smart! How many ways can I say this so that parents, students and teachers understand? Struggling in school does not equal low intelligence.

The important factor in all of this is developing a plan that doesn’t act as a Band-Aid for areas of weakness.  The solution requires developing a plan that remediates, or builds the areas of weakness so there is no longer a significant difference between the strengths and weaknesses. If there is an area that is still weak, once remediation has been done, that is when you start with accommodations.  In other words, for the student with visual processing issues:

First: Build his visual skills.

Second: Build his fine motor skills (writing).

Last: If after you’ve done the remediation of those two areas and there are still weaknesses, and the child is now in fourth-grade, build typing skills. Then once typing skills are learned, teach them dictation skills with a voice-to-text program.

Are you noticing that this is a process?

The process requires:

  1. Identification of strengths and weaknesses.
  2. Demystification of the learning profile for parents, students and teachers.
  3. Remediation of the areas of weakness.
  4. Accommodations for any weaknesses that cannot be remediated.

When a student is frustrated it’s time to take a closer look at his or her learning profile. Frustration is the symptom; you need to find the cause. Then, you identify the best intervention possible that targets the individual student’s areas of need.

I believe every student with an average or above IQ can learn to read, write and do math. It is all about finding the right program that matches the child’s need.

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Setting Summer Goals Helps Build Executive Functioning Skills

Executive Functioning, Learning, Math, Reading, Thinking Skills, Writing

Summer is the time to relax and reflect. What went well this year? What could have been better? What can your child improve on for next year? These are good questions to discuss with your child. As you have this conversation make a list. Take a piece of paper and fold it so you have four sections: 2 columns and 2 rows. Write What I did well in  as the header of one column and What was hard for me as the header of the second column. Now on the the first row you can list the subjects, sports, friendships, and projects that went well or were challenging. The header for both columns of the second rows is: My goals for next year. Help your child make goals for both the areas they are strong in as well as the areas that need growth.

Now that you have a clear idea of the areas to focus on, what can be worked on this summer? Don’t get too academic; rather consider the underlying skills that support the areas your child wants to do better in. If writing is an issue, strengthen typing skills, find a pen pal to make writing fun, sponsor a neighborhood newsletter and have other kids in the neighborhood write articles. If math is a challenge, create a weekly cooking lesson to help with measurement, use allowance and shopping to build money skills, find a fun computer math facts site to practice math facts.

Reading can be fun over the summer. Visit your library and see if they have a summer reading club, or create your own book club. My daughter has 2 book clubs and my son just started his book club. We have 8 nine-year old boys joined together for fun and reading. Book clubs are a great way to make reading fun.

How do all these activities build executive functioning skills? Simple. Making a goal, breaking it down to achievable steps, and following through to achieve those goals is really what executive functioning is all about. In the summer, those goals can be defined by the child rather than imposed by a teacher. Learning how to make goals, plan for them and succeed in achieving them is very important to children with executive functioning issues, so make sure the summer goals are realistic. Create timelines and checklists so your child can mark off each step he makes towards his goal. Self-esteem is created by success, so orchestrate the summer to allow your child succeed!


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Excellent Reading Comprehension, But Slow Reading Rate

Learning, Processing Speed, Reading, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing

Alex* is a lovely adolescent girl who has strong verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning skills. Alex’s processing speed is excellent on tasks that only require visual perception and visual discrimination. In other words, she is quickly able to perceive and write symbols that lack linguistic meaning. Her rate of processing information is hindered when Alex is required to read and comprehend information. Alex’s reading fluency is her greatest weakness and has caused her to struggle with reading since first grade. In spite of years of intervention Alex’s reading speed continues to be significantly lower than her verbal comprehension abilities when she is reading passages under time constraints.

Alex has strong reading comprehension skills.  She has a superior ability to read words from a list, as well as read short sentences. However, Alex’s reading rate and rapid naming skills are significantly below her vocabulary and sight-reading skills. Strengthening Alex’s rapid naming skills will enable her to read more fluently.

At this time Alex is able to perform to her potential in school due to the extra time she is provided on tests. When Alex is required to read within a time limit she is severely hindered in the amount of material she can process. Without extra time, Alex is unable to read enough material to demonstrate her comprehension of the material. Alex qualifies for extra time on standardized tests, but is there anything that can be done to help her reading rate?

Here are some ideas for Alex and her family to explore:

  • Read Naturally Program to build reading fluency
  • Dynamic Reader Computer program for reading fluency
  • Use higher levels of Lindamood-Bell LIPs  program to build phonological memory skills
  • Use Rapid Naming material to integrate visual and auditory modalities
  • Use visual worksheets to build visual attention
* Note: The student profile above is a composite of students with similar learning styles.
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