This document summarizes strategies for improving executive functioning skills in students with ADHD. It discusses what executive functioning involves, including self-regulation, organization, planning, and flexibility. Common challenges are identified such as situational awareness, time blindness, and an underdeveloped sense of future time. Tools are presented to help students build skills like miming tasks mentally, using visual supports, and gradually releasing responsibility. The importance of classroom structures that support executive functioning is highlighted.

1. Beyond Medication
Improving Executive Functioning in
Students with ADHD
Christopher Leonard, LCSW, M.Ed., Director of Operations
cleonard@sageday.com
Sarah Collins, MA, Teacher of Mathematics scollins@sageday.com

2. Thought Leaders in
Executive Functioning
▪ Sarah Ward, MS CCC-SLP, Cognitive Connections
Therapy
www.efpractice.com
▪ Nancy Sulla, Ed.D., author of Students Taking Charge
and It’s Not What You Teach But How
www.idecorp.com
▪ Russell Barkley, Ph.D., author of numerous books/
studies on ADHD www.russellbarkley.org

3. Workshop Objectives
▪ Understand causes of Executive Function (EF) difficulties
▪ Learn strategies to help build EF skills
▪ Learn about classroom practices that support EF
▪ Practice using a variety of strategies to build EF
▪ Develop a plan for utilizing at least one strategy with your child
or student(s)

4. Executive
Functioning….It’s not a
matter of “not feeling like
it…”

5. What is Executive
Functioning?
“The executive functions are a set of processes
that all have to do with managing oneself and
one's resources in order to achieve a goal. It is
an umbrella term for the neurologically-based
skills involving mental control and self-
regulation.”
-Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel

6. What Does Successful
Executive Functioning
Include?
▪ Self Regulation/Impulse Control/Social Navigation
▪ Situational Awareness
▪ Organization/Task Focus/Working Toward a Goal
▪ Information Processing/Remembering Details/Analysis
▪ Knowing When and How to Ask for Help
▪ Planning & Problem Solving
▪ Anticipating Outcomes/Considering Future Consequences
▪ Cognitive Flexibility
▪ Time Management
▪ Memory & Study Skills

7. Who struggles with
Executive Functioning?
Individuals with…
▪ ADHD
▪ Learning Disabilities (e.g. Dyslexia)
▪ Spectrum Disorders
▪ Anxiety
▪ Depression or Mood Disorders
▪ Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
▪ Traumatic Brain Injury
▪ Cancer Treatments

8. Executive Functioning
Depends on Non-Verbal
Working Memory
If I’m going to solve
those Chem problems,
I’ll need...
Future Glasses:
Non-Verbal Working
Memory
Self Talk: Verbal Working
Memory

9. Without EFFECTIVE Non-
Verbal Working Memory...
I have no idea where to
start...
Non Verbal Working
Memory
Verbal Working Memory

10. Mimetic Ideational
Information Processing
(“Future Thinking” Ward,
2016)
▪ Running through (miming) the
idea in your head
▪ A mental “dress rehearsal”
▪ Try it out to see how it feels
beforehand
▪ Mental trial & error (no risk of
error)
Space
Time
Objects
People

11. But all my students have
great Executive
Functioning! (?)
“The average capacity of working memory
has declined from 7 bits of information to
4-5 bits of information for adolescents and
adults.”
-Sarah Ward

12. Miming in your head allows
you to run Plan A and Plan
B in your head...
I could finish those
problems now and
get them over with...
I could go watch
Netflix. I’ll have time
to do those problems
later.

13. FOUR CHALLENGES:
Challenge 1: Self
Regulation
▪ Toddlers Learn to Wait (Impulse Control)
▪ Waiting = Prerequisite for Planning
▪ Limitations of the “Point Person.”
▪ Myth of Laziness
▪ All Behavior =Communication
▪ Attention, Escape, Sensory Satisfaction,
Tangible Object or Reward

14. Supporting Self Regulation
▪ K-8: Social Decision Making and Problem Solving, Maurice
Elias
▪ K-12: Hanging In, Jeffrey Benson
▪ Mindfulness:
▫ Therapy!
▫ Coaching!
▫ Wherever You Go There You Are, Jon Kabat-Zinn
▫ Peace is Every Step (and many more!), Thich Nhat Hanh
▫ K-8 Mind-up Curriculum
▫ Teens: www.mindfulteachers.org

15. Challenge 2: Situational
Awareness:
(STOP and Read the Room)
SPACE:
Navigate the room
TIME
Know the Timeline
OBJECTS
Organization
PEOPLE
Reading Others
What is this place? Time of Day? Layout of space Facial Expressions
What’s going on? Kind of Time? Location of
materials
Body Language
Expected or Not? What is going on
NOW?
Purpose of Objects Appearance/Tone
How do I get
around?
Sequence and Pace Priority of Objects Mood
What’s Next? What’s relevant? Pace

16. Reading the Room: Space,
Time, Objects, People
Try this: Think of a student who
struggles with EF. Which aspect(s) of
STOPPING would they struggle with?

17. Challenge 3:
Time Blindness:
For students with ADHD there is
NOW...
...and NOT NOW.

18. Challenge 4: Development
of the Time Horizon by Age
Range
▪ Age 2: Now
▪ Ages 3-5: 5 - 20 minutes
▪ 1st grade: Several hours
▪ 3rd grade: 8-12 hours
▪ Ages 12-16: 2-3 days
▪ Ages 17-23: 2-3 weeks
▪ Ages 23-35: 3-5 weeks
Executive Functioning not fully developed until age 23-26!
-Sarah Ward www.efpractice.com

19. Remedy: Future Thinking
(mental dress rehearsal)
The Mind M.I.M.E -Sarah Ward
Make an Image: What will it look like? (Schematic Future Thinking)
I look like…What will I look like? (Episodic Future Thinking)
Moving...How am I moving to do this? (Prospective Visual Motor Memory).
Emotion...How will I feel.

20. Problems with Task
Visualization & Completion
▪ We tend to plan tasks in one space, carry them out in another.
▪ Students more likely to use phones* or teacher websites than agendas
(no opportunity to MIME self completing work).
▪ Today’s students do not experience time the way we did. Their time is
either managed for them or “on demand.”
▪ When a student has emotional issues it makes MIME difficult.
Goal: Help students picture themselves in the future and extend the time
and space horizon in which they can see themselves.

21. What Helps Students
Become Independent
Planners?
▪ Daydreaming & Imaginative Play
▪ The Arts (Visual, Music, etc.)
▪ Scaffolding: Provide Supports and Teach tools
to stop, visualize the future, organize, plan,
manage time
▪ Shift from External Regulation to Internal
Regulation

22. Steps to Independent
Planning
To decrease impulsivity, facilitate distance from action. This
begins to create a mental anchor.
▪ Step 1 Concrete: Teach transitions through space
▪ Step 2 Visual : Provide Actual Pictures (photos)
▪ Step 3 Visual-Abstract : Create Maps & Diagrams
▪ Step 4 Visual-Physical : Practice pointing out your
plan

23. Step 1: Concrete Support
for Situational Awareness:
Anchor Transitions
Through Space
Discuss: Where could your
students benefit from
STOPPING?
STOP
DO YOU HAVE
WHAT YOU
NEED?

24. Visual (Step 2) Photos:
Managing Materials: Skitch

25. Managing Materials: Block
and Box
1. Lay out items.
2. Group what goes
together.
3. Take photo
4. Student can create album
in phone called “Get
Ready”

26. Visual-Abstract (Step 3):
Mapping/Future Sketching
1. Sketch
2. Tap it out

27. Visual-Physical (Step 4)
Miming/Talking Through
▪ Teaches visualizing space
(we plan in one space,
carry out task in another).
▪ A pointer or other physical
mediator can help reduce
impulsivity.
Learning Resources Hand Pointers available
on AmazonTry This: Practice miming/talking through a
task.

28. Self Regulation: Gradual
Release of Responsibility
Method -Sarah Ward
1. I do it...You Watch Me...We Talk
2. I do it...You Help Me...We Talk
3. We do it together...I Help You...We Talk
4. You do it...I Watch you...We Talk

29. Try this...
Identify a skill to
teach using the
Gradual Release of
Responsibility
Method and plan out
how you would teach
it.

30. Getting Started and
Following Through: Start
with the End in Mind
-Ward & Jacobsen (2014) Every Task has 3 Phases….

31. Example
Every Task has 3
phases…..
...or maybe 3 ½...

32. Practicing Get Ready, Do,
Done, Get Done
Try This: Think of a typical household or other routine
task that you do…
1. What does DONE look like?
2. What steps will you DO?
3. What will you need to GET READY?
Pair & Share...

33. Organized Thinking: Teach
“Same but Different” -Ward
2016
Ready for
English
Ready for
Statistics

34. Developing Time
Awareness: Use the Analog
Clock
Cognitive Connections:
360 Thinking App

35. Identify Time Robbers &
Management

36. The Story So Far…
(Break?)
▪ Executive Functioning requires us to picture ourselves in the future.
▪ Lack of nonverbal working memory makes it difficult to envision
ourselves in the future. This makes it hard to navigate Space, Time,
Objects & People.
▪ Giving students tools to become better planners, organizers and doers
helps them picture themselves in the future and increases the time and
space horizon in which they can see themselves.
NEXT: Building Executive Functioning Into the Classroom

37. A Look Into my Classroom:
Sarah Collins
▪ Reflection on learning
style
▪ First glimpse of active
learning
▪ Plan for my students

38. Attention/
Focus
Inhibition
Problem
Solving
Cognitive
Flexibility
Planning
Memory
Organizing &
Prioritizing
Initiating
Tasks
Completing a
Task
Physical
Organization
Self-
Monitoring
Self-
Regulation
Reasoning

39. Daily Goal Sheet
▪ Identify needs for the class period
▪ Realistic and simple goal
▪ Dedication and breakdown of time
Planning

40. Project Timeline
▪ A visual map of the project
▪ Schedule time and stay on track
▪ Duration and complexity
Planning &
Problem Solving

41. Project Timeline Visuals

42. Classroom Space
▪ Types of work spaces
▪ Organized resource area
▪ Classroom dynamics changing
Inhibitory Control

43. Classroom Space Visuals

44. Weekly Consultations
▪ Time to relay findings or access help
▪ Check-in on process and progress
▪ Gradual release of responsibility
Planning,
Cognitive Flexibility
& Reasoning

45. Peer Collaboration
▪ Element of socialization
▪ Insight and perspective of another individual
▪ Teacher mediation to self-led
▪ Development of collaboration guidelines
Cognitive Flexibility
& Self-awareness

46. Teacher as Facilitator
▪ Teacher’s role transforming over time
▪ Encouraging experts in learning
▪ Acknowledging progress
▪ Facilitation Road Map
Working Memory

47. Rubrics and Reflections
▪ Participation vs. project rubric
▪ Ability to grade themselves
▪ Daily notes and reflections
Self-awareness

48. Takeaway Thought
Learning should be an active process. Too
often, students come to school to watch their
teacher work.
-Will Daggett

49. Using the Tools: Case
Studies
TOOLBOX
▪ Reading the Room
▪ Transitions Through Space
▪ Photos & Visuals
▪ Mapping/Future Sketching
▪ Gradual Release of Responsibility
▪ Block & Box
▪ Get Ready, Do, DONE!
▪ Managing Time & Time Robbers
▪ Goal Sheets
▪ Rubrics
▪ Facilitation Roadmap
1. Discuss at least one of the three
case studies.
2. Select tools from left to make an
intervention plan.
3. Prepare to share.
4. If you finish early: Begin to
consider how you might apply
tools to one or more of your
students.

50. Using the Tools: Your Plan
Try This: Make a Plan to
implement a strategy in your
work this year...

51. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

52. Works Cited
Barkley, Russell A. (2012). Executive functions: What they are, how they work, and why they
evolved. New York: Guilford
Cooper-Kahn, Joyce & Dietzel, Laurie (2008). Late, lost and unprepared: A parent’s guide to
helping children with executive function. Woodbine House, Bethesda, MD.
Elias, Maurice & Clabby, John F. (2001 Revision) Social decision making and problem solving.
Livingston NJ: Rutgers University.
Hanh, Thich Nhat (1992). Peace is every step: The path of mindfulness in everyday life. New
York: Bantam.
Hawn Foundation (2011). Mind up curriculum.
http://thehawnfoundation.org/mindup/mindup-curriculum/

53. Works Cited (continued)
Kabat-Zinn, Jon (1994). Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New
York: Hyperion.
Littman, Ellen (2012). “The secret lives of girls with ADHD.” Attention Magazine.
http://www.chadd.org/Membership/Attention-Magazine/Attention-Magazine-Article.aspx?id=73
Mindful Teachers (2016) http://www.mindfulteachers.org/p/free-resources-and-lesson-plans.html
Minehan, Jessica (2012). The behavior code: A practical guide to understanding and teaching the
most challenging students.Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press
Shade, Tara. (2013). What is executive function? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfKLmqpjfWs
Sulla, Nancy. The facilitation roadmap. Handout. IDE Corp. Ramsey, NJ, 2015. Print.

54. Works Cited and Additional
Resources
Ward, Sarah (2016). “360 thinking: Developing executive functioning in students.” Presentation
given at Newgrange School, Hamilton NJ, May 6, 2016, www.efpractice.com
Ward, Sarah & Jacobsen, Kristen (2014). “A clinical model for developing executive function skills.
“SIG 1 Perspectives and Language Learning and Education, March 2014, Vol. 21, 72-84
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Ask An Autistic: What is Executive Functioning?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=229Xb50_o8M&nohtml5=False
Executive Functions for Kids (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REo3fzja5xs
Tough, Paul (2013). How children succeed: Grit, curiousity, and the hidden power of character. New
York: Mariner Books