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20 Proven & Effective Thinking and Self-Regulation Strategies: For Children with Sensory Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Anxiety & ADHD

Todays LandscapeObjectives1. Explain the neurobiological basis of executive dysfunctions. 2. Introduce activities to improve 8 primary executive functions. 3. Describe the role of motor rhythm and timing in EF. 4. Explain the role of the cerebellum in thinking and behavioral control. 5. Provide case examples of classroom manifestations of difficulty with

executive dysfunction. 6. Describe more than 20 neurocognitive strategies, solutions and

activities. 7. Role-play and practice cognitive and self-regulation interventions for

anxiety, SPD, ADHD. 8. Learn how to build neuronal pathways with cortico-cerebellar

interventions.  

How We Learn

The Kids (teens and grown-ups)

ATTENTION• Have difficulty paying attention to tasks that

are not interesting to them• Are easily distracted, often attending to

people, things, noises and events that are not central to the task at hand

• When they drift, they do not know when to re-alert and re-select to salient targets

MEMORY• Memory overload• Cannot hold directions in their heads, may

need to be told several times what to do• Salient details clouded by unimportant

information

The Kids (teens and grown-ups)

APPROACH TO TASKS• Not able to consider details of a task as

well as the big picture at the same time• Have trouble knowing where to begin a

task• Work better when tasks are broken down

into parts• Have difficulty completing all aspects of a

task, may do some parts but not others, seems to leave a lot undone

• Have trouble planning out a project, isn’t sure how much time tasks will take

The Kids (teens and grown-ups)

COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY• Stick with a plan, even when it’s clear the plan

isn’t working• Have trouble adjusting to changes in a plan or

activity• May appear rigid, inflexible or unadaptable• Have difficulty switching gears from one

activity to another• May have difficulty making or revising

decisionsIMPULSIVITY

• Do things in a hurry, perhaps in a messy way, desiring to just get through things

• Often act without thinking• May get into binds they need to work their

way out of, because the approach is not well-planned

“Teaching children how they think, not simply what to think.”

What is Musical Thinking?

Musical Thinking is a cognitive empowerment strategy utilizing music, movement and rhythm that teaches children how they think and learn helping them gain better control over their approach to daily tasks and activities related to learning and behavior.

Making EF Transparent with Direct Instruction

When we make the application of executive functions to learning transparent and easily understood, children gain better control over what was previously mysterious to them, that is, the process of thinking and learning.

Learning - Memory

• The #1 thing we need to do to learn is put things into our brains then take them out again, over and over.

• Slow-Mo – We encode in slow notes.

• Quick Rick – We retrieve in quick notes.

_________________How The Brain Is

Built

Development and Neurophysiology of Executive Functioning

Cortical control is a whole brain response, not simply the response of one part of the brain. The brain works more like an orchestra than simply a section of instruments.

Neuronal Highways• How we build

neuronal highways.

• The #1 thing we do to learn.

• The need for consistent practice.

“Proper Behavior Begins in the Grocery Store.” Wendy Young

Why are we putting sand in our gas tanks?•Cellular foundations of nutrition•We cannot starve a brain and then consequence a body•The whole foods grocery list•Food journals•Making the shift to whole real food•Toxins, herbicides and pesticides•Other biological bases of misbehavior

_________________ The Biology of

LearningLearning is a biological process.It happens in your brain.

The Biology of Learning• Social DNA• Rhythm, Tempo, Timing• Observation/Imitation• Patterns• Repetition• Motor to Cognition• Building neuronal highways

_________________ Patterns, Sound and

Rhythm in Brain Function

What’s in a Measure?

Having A BallRhythm is biological, material and meaningfulHow to bounce a ballWhen to bounce a ballWhat ball bouncing teaches us

The Brain is Primed to Learn

Intervention PyramidMedicationDevelopmental,

Behavioral, Learning Interventions

NeurotransmittersExerciseFood/NutritionSleep

_________________ Executive Function

Enhancement Begins with the Relationship

• It’s about how you show up• Agents of change• Create Cultures of Kindness

• Model “I Can!”

Foundational Research• Movement precedes cognition.

• Rhythm is a foundational component to perceiving language, reading and math.

• Deficits in fine and gross motor control, rhythm, and timing have been consistently reported in the literature across several diagnostic groups including ADHD, developmental dyslexia, reading, math and speech-language deficits.

• Movement paired with increasingly complex cognition is likely to improve executive functions.

What might a pattern sound like?

Literacy Precursors

At what age do children begin to read?

Narrative Story Telling• The value of

sequencing• Sequencing is

developmental• Why we narrate

experience• How narration builds

brains

Tie A Bow On It

Patterns, Rhymes and ReadingReview

The role of pre-literacy skills in learning and behaviorLanguage neuron densitySongs & RhymeSuccessive Processing (the greatest gift of all)Reading and language skillsMath Matters

The Myths and The Facts

_________________ Executive Functions

What Are Executive Functions?The Executive Functions include a number of interrelated higher order cognitive processes necessary for the purposeful and goal-directed behavior that allows us to be successful social animals.

Executive Function Skills

EF Domains• Organization, planning, approach and time

management• Attention (alert, select, sustain) distractibility• Cognitive control, shift and flexibility• Memory, input, manipulation, output• Problem solving, decision making• Emotional regulation and modulation• Impulse control and management• Motor management planning, pacing, initiation,

maintaining, stopping

What Every Student Needs To Know How To Do

• Survey and preview• Plan, organize, sequence, initiate and

execute tasks• Hold, manipulate and retrieve memory • Shift focus, sustain attention, tolerate and

adapt to changes in expectations• Stop, think, decide, respond, revise• Manage time

Approaches to EF Improvement

• Exercise and nutrition• Interventions such as Cogmed,

neurofeedback, Bal a Vis X, MC2, Brainware Safari

• Strategies – Picture schedules, task modification, verbal cueing, visual cueing, feedback

The Love NotesCueing CardsCompositions

5 Simple Steps• Teach the children how their brains are

structured• Teach the children how their brains learn• Teach the children that their brains are

musical• Introduce The Love Notes• Use the Cueing Cards and Compositions

to apply new skills in real life

Cognitive Cueing – 3 Simple Steps

Skills Application…• Time estimation, allocation and

monitoring• Academic skills such as foreign

language, phonics, reading, math• Thought examination, evaluation and

re-framing• Perception management• Feelings management

What’s In A Measure?• Measures of music have an interesting

correlation to cognitive processing. • In 4/4 time, there are four beats to a

measure.• Each beat can help children experience a

part of a thought, action or piece of educational content.

• Since we learn by understanding the sequences of content, knowledge or actions, we are able to teach children better executive function skills by associating content or knowledge with each beat.

• Nacho Arimany the value of the the 3/4.

Good Books on EF

_______________See-Saws and Marshmallows

The Energy Continuum – Defining RegulationThe Energy Continuum – The VisualsClimbing Down Anger Mountain

Physical strategies

Cognitive strategies

Emotional strategies

Emotion is Energy in MotionSensory awareness is crucialGet Calm MethodWith intense kids it’s all about the timing

Self-Regulation is Energy Management

Wanna be Calm?Need to Alert? Bounce A Ball!Sparkpe.org

What Moment Are We In?

Anger Mountain

The Energy ContinuumSeek Calm & Alert

Alert and Ready To Respond

Over-EnergizedHyper

Lethargic UnmotivatedTired

Sensory Integration Dysfunction

• There is considerable overlap between executive and sensory processing functions

• Both are related to self-regulation• Many kids with sensory integration

difficulties also have trouble with cognitive flexibility

• The calming to alerting continuum• Lucy Jane Miller• Lindsey Biel

The Caveman and The Thinker

5 Things About The Teen Brain You were afraid to ask, but need to know

• Teen brain growth (neuronal connections) is in spurts and starts The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development (Johns Hopkins University, 2009) by Clea McNeely and Jayne Blanchard

• Go away! Wait, where are you going? (Separation and Independence)

• Why so moody? The limbic interference relates to neuronal growth, hormonal changes and brain re-organization

• Why so cliquey? Teens are herd animals…• What? Your brakes aren’t working? (Impulsivity and risk

taking and the teenage brain)

Teens and Tweenies

• Teenage as a second language ~ Barbara R. Greenberg, & Jennifer A. Powell-Lunder

• Get out of my life! But first will you take me and Cheryl to the mall ~ Anthony Wolf

• Why do they act that way? ~ David Walsh

Movement Resources• Suzy Koontz suzykoontz.com• Jean Blaydes Madigan abllab.com• SparkPE.org• Eric Jensen www.jensenlearning.com• Gil Connell @movingsmartnow• Bal A Vis X

CitationsBrown, Peter C., Roediger, H.L, & McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. Carpenter, T., Franke Loef, M. & Levi, L. (2003). Thinking Mathematically: Integrating Arithmetic & Algebra in Elementary School. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.  Das, J.P., Naglieri, J., & Kirby, J. (1994). Assessment of Cognitive Processes: The PASS theory of intelligence. New York: Allyn & Bacon. Diamond, A. (2015). Effects of Physical Exercise on Executive Functions: Going beyond Simply Moving to Moving with Thought. Annals of Sports Medicine and Research, 2(1), 1011.

Gordon R.L., Fehd, H.M. and McCandliss, B.D. (2015). Does Music Training Enhance Literacy Skills? A Meta-Analysis. Front. Psychol. 6:1777.  Haywood, H.C. (2013). What is Cognitive Education? The view from 30,000 feet, Journal of Cognitive Education & Psychology. Vol. 12 Issue 1, p 26. Hillman, C. H., Erickson, K. I., & Kramer, A. F. (2008). Be smart, exercise your heart: Exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 58–65. Overy, K. (2003). Dyslexia and music: from timing deficits to musical intervention. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 999, 497–505.

Patel, A. D. (2008). Music, Language, and the Brain. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.  Sibley, B. A., & Etnier, J. L. (2003). The relationship between physical activity and cognition in children: A meta-analysis. Pediatric Exercise Science, 15, 243–256.  Tierney, A. & Kraus, N. (2013). The Ability to Move to a Beat Is Linked to the Consistency of Neural Responses to Sound. The Journal of Neuroscience, 18 September 2013, 33(38): 14981-14988.

Tierney, A. & Kraus, N. (2013). The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills. Brain Lang 124:225–231.