Teaching Executive Functioning Skills to Teens with Emotional Disturbance

Executive Functioning Skills

If you were to walk up to anyone on the street and ask them what executive functioning is, you could be met with many different responses. According to the Hill Learning Center, which specializes in furthering the education of students with learning differences, executive functioning skills facilitate the behaviors required to plan and achieve goals. This includes abilities like planning, organization, self-regulation, working memory, and attention. These can all contribute to a student’s success in and out of the classroom. 

Here is a breakdown of key executive functioning skills:

Planning and Organization:
The ability to set goals, break down tasks, and organize materials and time. 

Self-Regulation:
Managing emotions, impulses, and behaviors, including the ability to delay gratification and resist distractions. 

Working Memory:
Holding information in mind long enough to complete a task, such as remembering instructions or a sequence of events. 

Attention and Focus:
Maintaining focus on a task, filtering out distractions, and sustaining attention for an appropriate duration. 

Cognitive Flexibility:
The ability to adapt to changing situations, switch between tasks, and think flexibly. 

Task Initiation:
The ability to start tasks without procrastination or delay, even when they are challenging or uninteresting. 

Problem-Solving:
Identifying problems, generating solutions, and implementing strategies to overcome challenges. 

Time Management:
Understanding the passage of time, estimating how long tasks will take, and managing time effectively. 

Emotional Control:
Recognizing and managing emotions and responding appropriately in various situations. 

Learning these skills as a teen is vital as most teens are preparing for high school, which means their first job is often on the horizon. They also need these skills to manage their time more effectively. Everyday activities, such as getting up and ready for school, require executive functioning skills. Your students must know how long it takes them to be ready to leave for school in the morning. Then, they must plan what time to wake up, how long to shower, what they will wear, what to have for breakfast, and how long it will take them to get to the bus stop or walk to school. Not to mention making sure their homework is done and they get the needed amount of rest. As adults, we are so used to doing things daily that we don’t realize how much decision-making and planning goes into an ordinary day. 

Students can be easily overwhelmed if they do not have the skill set to plan and make time for their school day. And that overwhelm can turn to shutting down or giving up when things get too tricky. To prepare for life, they must know how to manage themselves daily. This can be done through the use of checklists, using a planner, and establishing daily routines. Breaking tasks into smaller steps is a helpful way for a student to feel successful as they work through projects. Writing important dates into a planner can help them remember due dates and assessments. Having a daily routine helps things to become more familiar and second nature. As Benjamin Franklin said, “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”

Try some of the following strategies when working with your students:

Executive Functioning Strategies

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How You Can Teach Teens with Emotional Disturbance Active Listening

Teach Active Listening
Teaching Teens with Emotional Disturbance

1. Create a Safe and Supportive Environment

  • Establish clear, consistent routines to reduce anxiety.
  • Foster trust through positive relationships and reassurance.
  • Use a calm and patient tone when communicating.

2. Teach Active Listening in Small Steps

  • Break it down: Define active listening as making eye contact, nodding, paraphrasing, and asking questions.
  • Use visuals: Post charts or visual reminders of active listening skills.
  • Model it: Demonstrate active listening yourself, emphasizing nonverbal cues.

3. Use Engaging and Interactive Activities

  • Role-playing: Have students practice listening in real-life scenarios.
  • Games: Try “Telephone” or “Mirroring” games to reinforce listening skills.
  • Storytelling: Read short stories and ask students to repeat key details.

4. Provide Structured Support

  • Cue cards: Give prompts like “What I heard you say is…”
  • Timers: Use timers to help students focus on listening for short periods.
  • Checklists: Provide a simple checklist for students to self-monitor their listening behavior.

5. Address Emotional and Behavioral Needs

  • Teach self-regulation: Encourage deep breathing or grounding techniques before discussions.
  • Validate feelings: Acknowledge students’ emotions before redirecting to listening tasks.
  • Use positive reinforcement: Praise and reward good listening behaviors.

6. Make It Relevant and Personal

  • Relate to interests: Use topics they care about to keep them engaged.
  • Peer partnerships: Pair students with a buddy for listening exercises.
  • Reflect and discuss: Ask students how they feel when they are truly listened to.

This is just a start. You may find your students need a refresher, and that is okay. This a skill which needs time to for one to get better at it.  Comment below if you have your own tips.

Why I Became a Teacher

Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen the above meme circulating around social media. It lists many of the things that teacher endure do on a daily basis. At first glance, it doesn’t make teaching seem like the idea career choice. I mean, let’s be real, being a teacher is HARD work. People love to talk about all the days we have off, but most of the time, teachers spend their “off” days still working. Not to mention there are of many of us who work second jobs in order to supplement our incomes. During a school day, any true teacher knows that it is next to impossible to get any of the other duties of our job completed. That includes but is not limited to, communicating with parents, planning for future lessons, etc. And if you are a special educator like me, you have IEPs to write and goals to track. There is never enough time in the day!

From that opening, you might be wondering why do it then? For me, I love working with children. I love to see the “A Ha!” moments when a student figures something out. I love to see a student learn something new or accomplish a goal. There are days when I think to myself, what were you thinking?! But those days are few and far between. I have only been a classroom teacher for the past five years, but I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. In elementary school I developed a love of reading. I could spend hours lost in the pages of a book. I can still can, when I find the time!

My sixth grade teacher made me want to be a teacher. Her name was Mrs. Derrick and I was convinced that she knew everything about the world. She was beautiful and kind. I can’t remember her ever raising her voice for any reason. She had this calming aura about her that even when I think of her to this day, I feel happy. Fast forward to my senior year of high school and I was able to work as a student teacher with Mrs. Derrick. I loved it! The discussions that we had about books. I was amazed at the things that the students knew. It was a no brainer that I was going to college to get my education degree.

BUT we all know that the best laid plans just never happen or however it goes :). Off to college I went and because of family pressure I became a business major. I went to work in the family business and was pretty good at it. I got my MBA and started my own event planning company. There was always something missing. Finally, I decided that I wanted to get back into the classroom working with students. I went back to school in order to get my teaching license. I got a job working as a paraprofessional and once I had my license, I landed my first teaching position.

Initially when I went back to school my focus was early childhood education. The thought of molding tiny kindergarten minds was enticing to me. UNTIL… I was a substitute in several kindergarten classes. I developed a different level of respect for kindergarten teachers. It takes a special person to mold those tiny minds. Then I worked in special education as a substitute and realized that I’d found my calling. Helping students reach their goals and giving families the support they need became my driving force as an educator. So, the working more than sixty hours per week and endless paperwork is worth it. When I see the smiles on my students’ faces or the student who has been struggling write a complete sentence independently, it is worth it.

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