The strategies outlined below are best practice. Therefore, they will also benefit students who don't appear to have executive functioning difficulties.
CORE APPROACHES TO INSTRUCTION
1. Islands of Competence
Students with EF difficulties will usually have significant learning challenges and low self-esteem about their ability to achieve in the classroom. It will be helpful if their teacher can discover a student's area, or island, of competence. When the student is allowed to be successful in his or her area of competence, the learning process can begin to take hold and develop. Focusing on an island of competence should not be misunderstood as "dumbing-down" an activity or lesson; rather, it is tailoring learning to a child's interests in order to achieve academic success. Not only does success bolster learning, but it is also central to developing a positive, trusting relationship with the student.
2. Predictability
Providing opportunities to succeed must be reinforced by a classroom environment that supports the student's success. Established routines and positive responses are important for all children, but they are particularly helpful for students, who need a school environment that is predictable and safe, (often in contrast to life at home).
Enhancing predictability in the following areas will be help:
¦ Timing of lessons and activities. Educators enhance predictability when they clearly communicate the schedule their lessons and activities will follow. This can be accomplished by making easily readable schedule charts and by reviewing what activities will be taking place and their projected duration. Going over the schedule on a consistent basis will reinforce predictability.
¦ Smooth Transitions Some students with EF issues are often particularly sensitive to transitions. To reassure them and to avoid triggering reactions, educators can preview new people and places, help children predict what will be happening next, and remind them of the uniform enforcement of rules throughout the school setting.
¦ Safety. Students benefit from classrooms that they know are physically and psychologically safe and secure. This sense of safety includes freedom from physical and verbal threats from, and assaults by, other students and protection from intrusions into classrooms by abusive parents. Students who are prone to acting out feelings of aggression should not be allowed to scare others or cause harm. Supports need to be in place in every classroom to address behaviour that is out of control or unsafe. Children's sense of safety will be increased by incorporating functional safety skills into the regular curriculum, teaching conflict-resolution skills, and seeing teachers resolve conflict in appropriate ways.
3. Language-Based Teaching Approaches
Some students with executive functioning issues pay more attention to nonverbal signs than to words, which results in frequently missing cues or misunderstanding information. These children can easily lose track of what is happening and misinterpret instructions or expectations in the classroom. Losing track of classroom activity may trigger anxiety, which throws the student further off and makes it harder to catch up. Familiar language-based teaching strategies are effective for reducing fear and increasing the ability to take in and learn information and follow rules.