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Developing Executive Function Skills: Shared Relevance

January 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

Developing executive function skills encompasses addressing both distractions and special interests to help students learn how to regulate impulsive thoughts, persevere with less interesting or undesirable tasks, and manage time. An important concept to understand when developing executive function skills is “shared relevance”.

When we create shared relevance with another person, in a tutoring session, for instance, we are agreeing that a topic is worthy of our attention. This social-psychological process can be a useful tool for developing these skills with elementary school, middle, and high school students who struggle with ADHD.

Establishing shared relevance to regulate distraction

When distracting thoughts arise while one is already focused on a task, establishing their shared relevance can become a tool of self-regulation. For example, if a student is working on a math problem during a tutoring session and has an interesting idea pop into their head unexpectedly, they will put down their pencil to tell me about it. Rather than dismissing the thought as a distraction, co-attending to its presence and labeling it as unwanted, we can instead establish the shared relevance of the thought by treating it as worthy of our future attention. That is, we can develop the practice of responding to impulsive thoughts by writing them down on our official list (a parking lot or bin of sorts) of things to discuss during our break-time half-way through the session or at the end of the session. This could be a fact to Google, a video to watch, or a comic strip to read. Then, after putting the thought on paper, we redirect our attention to the homework task or other task we were just in the midst of completing. Having a system such as this supports developing executive function skills with students and it is a manageable strategy for students to implement on their own, over time.

When we reach the break-time, the student often is not actually interested in looking up or sharing whatever thing had originally pulled their attention away from their work. However, by writing down each thought as it arises, we are developing executive functioning skills and sending the message that their ideas are worthy of our future attention. By saving these ideas for our break-time or end of session time, we are also establishing the worth of the task at hand. As a result, through establishing the shared relevance of distractions we can get into the habit of regulating our pull to impulsive distractions rather than trying to suppress or give into them. This skill can be useful when the student is doing their school work independently: they can note (jot down) an intrusive thought as deserving of their time but hold off on pursuing it in the present. The thought and the present activity are both worthy of their attention.

Developing shared relevance allows students in elementary, middle and high school to regulate their distractions and imbue the task at hand with meaning, thus further developing executive function skills, as well as their cognitive independent self-control. These skills can and should be able to be generalized in all facets of life.

By Laurie Gross, Educational Consultant, Special Educator and Reading Specialist at My Learning Springboard and Emma Miller, Learning Specialist and Private Tutor

Enhancing Metacognition and Executive Functions

December 5, 2021 Leave a Comment

The importance of thinking about thinking cannot be understated, especially for students who learn differently or find themselves struggling to keep up. Metacognition, defined as “the awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes,” builds independence and resilience among students by allowing them to recognize unhelpful habits and negative self-talk. Metacognition enhances the development of executive function skills; student learn to actively reflect, think strategically, and put on their future glasses. A student with limited metacognitive ability might stare for 30 minutes at a worksheet, only to conclude that they “cannot think of anything to write about” or simply “can’t do it.” On the other hand, a more metacognitively aware student in the same situation might be able to ask themself, “Why am I having a hard time with this assignment, and what can I do to change that?”

Often, bolstering metacognition also provides the very tangible benefit of simultaneously improving time management skills. Instead of putting off assignments without fully grasping the compounding effects of consistent procrastination, students working on metacognitive awareness begin to ask themselves more specific questions about self regulation. How long will this take me to accomplish? In what order should I complete these tasks? Where will I work most effectively? What can I do to avoid “time robbers”? What other obstacles might arise, and what will I do in that situation? While some adults often take this kind of metacognition for granted, for many students these are non-intuitive skills that can be practiced and improved.

In many ways, the process of developing self-monitoring is much like the process of an actor rehearsing a play. Just as an actor must balance their own thoughts, habits, and routines with those of the character they portray, the student is asked to step back and compare their own actions to the student they would like to become. How am I similar to this person? How am I different from this person? What would the character do in this situation? Is that different from how I am reacting at present? If so, how do we merge into one?

Great actors will ask these questions independently as they prepare for a role, but once inside the rehearsal room, performers are also supported by a whole team of creatives offering thoughts on character, style, and structure. An executive function coach might serve as the student’s metacognitive “director,” tasked not only with spearheading creative vision but also with designing a space for all players to work to their fullest potential. Just as a director guides the actor through “blocking” or planning out the progression of a scene, an executive function coach works with students to manage the progression of their daily, weekly, or annual academic responsibilities. In either case, this work includes managing both the physical and emotional structure of events.

Like a director building systems to support an actor’s performance, an executive function coach will help students to:

Identify goals

Almost all script analysis techniques require storytellers to identify the main “event” of a scene and then consider how this event stacks into the larger story; without any understanding of purpose, the performance will likely miss the mark. Similarly, students without any understanding of what they are working towards may become academically disengaged or burned out from unnecessary pursuits of perfection. Executive function coaching helps students enhance their metacognition skills to identify personal priorities and then actively craft schedules that reflect those dreams and values. Once this backbone is in place, coaching sessions also provide the necessary time and space for practicing metacognition: How did the week go academically? Am I on track with the benchmarks I’ve set for myself? Am I where I’d like to be as a thinker and learner? With academic priorities outlined, it becomes easier for students to justify study sessions over social media or brain-breaks over all-nighters. Sarah Ward, M.S., CCC-SLP of Cognitive Connections suggests the “C.O.P.s” method of anticipating a student’s weekly activities, where “C” stands for “chill time” spent in leisure, “O” stands for “obligated time” like school, appointments, or extracurricular activities, and “P” stands for “productive time” where students complete assignments and chores. Coaches assist students in listing their most common “chill,” “obligated,” and “productive” activities, and then help students craft and visualize a standard week that aligns with their overarching goals.

Build flexible structure

Only amatuer performers attempt to replicate exactly the same performance each night. Experts, on the other hand, effectively incorporate and encourage spontaneity within the director’s predetermined structure. Just as directors and actors recognize that it is impossible to map out every move, coaches and students work under the assumption that schedules will change from week to week. The goal of assignment tracking and scheduling is to provide useful structure, and metacognitive coaching equips students with tools for managing the unexpected. For example, coaches or parents might use transparent page protectors to hold copies of their student’s schedule; this way, the student can easily make adjustments using dry erase markers. Metacognition at this phase may turn “Volleyball tournament this weekend!” into “Hmmm, I have a volleyball tournament this weekend. How does this change up my schedule? Will this cut into my study time? What do I need to adjust to stay on track?”

Self direct

After opening night, the director leaves, and maintaining the artistic integrity of performance becomes the actor’s responsibility. Executive function coaches also expect to exit after ensuring the performance can run smoothly on its own. They slowly guide students towards independence, stacking skills into routine until students feel comfortable implementing planning processes by themselves. At the outset, a coach might start by creating a hard-copy or digital planner system for students to simply list assignments. From here, students begin to practice creating realistic time estimates for single tasks, enhancing their metacognition and executive function skills. Once this is achieved, coaches encourage students to map out full days or weeks. Ultimately, students extrapolate upon these skill sets and begin managing long-term projects or career goals.

Recognize that it may feel strange at first

It may feel unnatural for students to step into this new “character,” but coaches are there to help. Creating a new routine takes time, and just as a director supports an actor’s artistic process, mentors also provide guidance, ask useful questions, and empathize with the growing pains of new habit formation. Actors are constantly required to perform movements that feel awkward at first; for the sake of visual storytelling, a right-handed actor might need to pick up a cup with their left hand, or kick a soccer ball with their left foot, or execute a complicated dance move. In all cases, actors will practice the process until the unnatural becomes second nature. In other words, they “fake it till you make it” – or as author Amy Cuddy suggests, “fake it till you become it.” Students are introduced to this kind of mentality, and are reminded that faltering at first or accidentally missing a day is all part of the learning process. Metacognition also eases this transition, and provides a method through which students can wonder about their actions safely and without judgement: a student who starts with the mindset of “I am bad because I didn’t turn in my homework” might be coached towards a growth mindset of, “Hmmm. I notice that I didn’t get this assignment in on time. What do I think about that? Why is that? Was the situation avoidable? Why is this important to me?“ Through encouraging metacognition, coaches and parents can turn missteps into learning opportunities.

Iterate constantly

Ask any director or actor about their creative processes, and you will never receive the same answer twice. Some teams work outside-in, drawing inspiration from paintings or movement or music, while others work inside-out, drawing upon their personal experiences and motivations. The same goes for mentor-mentee teams in executive function coaching: different projects and different people require different tools. While coaches can, of course, call upon foundational techniques time and time again, the real creativity in both mentoring and artmaking comes from adapting these foundations to the situation at hand. The benefits of iterating for each student are twofold: first, the student ends up with a more personalized system, and second, iterating provides a great opportunity for teaching metacognition. This might look like, “You seem a bit hesitant to update your digital planner. Why is that? Can you think of anything that might work better for you? Could we move to a hard copy planner or a whiteboard system?” By talking through suggested adjustments, coaches model awareness of learning processes and help students to think more concretely about iterating for themselves.

Ultimately, executive function coaches view metacognition not only as a tool for academic development, but also as a springboard for personal growth. Our passion is helping students “perform” (pun intended) to the best of their abilities, both inside and outside the classroom.

By Ali Stoner, Private Tutor, Laurie Gross, M.A.T. and Family Advocate, and Brad Hoffman, MS.Ed. and CEP.

What Is Ear Reading?

November 17, 2021 1 Comment

“He cannot get enough of read alouds–we spend every night reading a new book and he is glued to my every word. Is this ear reading? That’s a new term for me.”

“He is so curious and inquisitive about everything! I answer a million questions a day”

“She loves learning about the solar system and Outer Space. She spends hours looking at her space books.”

We can describe the interests and strengths of students in a million different ways. But, for so many students, their challenges share the same narrative: “Reading is hard.” For students who struggle to “break the code” of print, their academic profile is often defined by what they can’t do: read. But, as the world changes and research develops, it is time that we unpack what it means to “read” and why struggling to decode is not a defining limitation.

The Modalities of Reading: Ear and Eye Reading

Traditionally, we define reading as decoding print to understand content. The process of learning to read by this definition is often intensive and multifaceted— a prescribed sequence of phonics instruction and word recognition that defines early elementary classroom experiences. For students who come to read print easily, this early exposure and instruction becomes the foundation of their academic experiences and subsequent engagement. For those who struggle to build and maintain word recognition and decoding skills, their challenge in “learning to read” is a transformative experience, one which can impact their entire academic career.

However, when we talk about reading, we often only refer to eye reading. Eye reading is the visual interpretation of printed texts. That, however, is not the only way to read. In fact, by limiting our definition of reading to eye reading alone, we are limiting the potential of students who are challenged in the process of learning to eye read. Ear reading is another, less referenced, form of reading and understanding text. When we ear read, we listen to text rather than silently read a printed text with our eyes.

The Benefits of Ear Reading

Ear reading is an undervalued and often underrepresented modality for building understanding and content knowledge. And, in fact, ear reading has been proven to be equally effective to eye reading in understanding text. In a 2016 study, no substantial differences in understanding were found between eye reading, ear reading, or a combination of the two (Rogowsky, 2016).

For many students who struggle to eye read, ear reading comes naturally and, in many cases, is a real strength. However, we do not often offer the opportunity to students to build understanding through ear reading. This is an unfortunate and antiquated gap in education. When we limit students’ building of grade appropriate content knowledge to ear reading alone, we are limiting their potential to what they are able to decode rather than what they are able to understand. Ear reading allows for limitless content knowledge building and can serve as a meaningful bridge to grade level and above grade level work for students who struggle to break the code of eye reading.

Opportunities for Ear Reading

Ear reading affords students the opportunity to access and work with grade level content while they continue to build their eye reading decoding skills. For many students (and many adults), ear reading may remain their preferred modality for reading text. Ear reading should be encouraged and nurtured in the same manner as eye reading. In fact, for a striving eye reader, ear reading could and should be their primary means to access academic content not intended to strengthen decoding or reading comprehension skills.

Some examples of appropriate applications for ear reading in the classroom or when completing homework include:

Listening to word problems in math
Accessing audio version of Social Studies and Science texts
Using speech to text software to plan and draft writing compositions
Downloading the audiobook version of classroom read alouds or shared literature texts

Tools for Ear Reading

In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, accessing ear reading tools and materials has never been easier. While accessing audio files used to require specific hardware, most devices and websites offer tools to easily enable opportunities for ear reading.

You can find ear reading tools on:

Audible: The Audible app is not just for adults. The platform contains a wide range of childrens’ and young adult literature and informational text, including popular series books and classic stories. While it requires a subscription, the monthly price is inexpensive and provides an ear reading library right at your student’s fingertips.
Epic Books:Epic Books (getepic.com) is an expansive online reading platform that can be accessed from their website or app. It offers leveled texts and commercially available books at the Elementary level. In addition to browsing by genre, topic, or interest, Epic has tons of “Read to Me” and audiobook options for students. The app is intuitive and kid friendly, meaning students can independently ear read once they are acquainted with the platform.
Common Lit: Common Lit (commonlit.org) is another reading platform, this one targeted to Upper Elementary, Middle, and High School students. All texts on their site have a “read aloud” option that allows for accessible ear reading. The app also allows for easy in text annotation while reading.
YouTube: While not an obvious choice, YouTube has tons of read alouds and spoken texts available on the platform free of charge. While the site is not as easy to browse for titles, if you are searching for a specific text on the site, you are likely to find it.
Google Docs & Chrome Extensions: Google Docs has a text to speech function built right into its Tools menu, allowing immediate voice typing. Several Chrome extensions, such as Read & Write for Google, read text aloud from any website or document opened in the Google Chrome browser.

Rogowsky, B.A., Calhoun, B.M., & Tallal, P. (2016). Does modality matter? The effects of reading, listening and dual modality on comprehension. SAGE open, 1-9. doi/abs/10.1177/2158244016669550

By Marisa Krohn, Learning Specialist

What Is Reading Fluency? And why Is It Important?

November 10, 2021 1 Comment

Reading fluency is the ability to read accurately, smoothly and with expression. Fluent readers recognize words automatically, without struggling over decoding issues. When reading silently, in addition to recognizing words automatically, fluent readers group words rapidly to help gain meaning from their reading, which then translates into their understanding of the text. When reading aloud, fluent readers sound natural, as if they’re speaking. Non-fluent readers read slowly and sound choppy. Fluency is important because it builds a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. It allows students time to focus on what the text is saying. They are able to make connections between what they are reading and their own background knowledge. Therefore, they are able to concentrate on comprehension. On the other hand, non-fluent readers have to spend more time decoding, leaving less time for comprehending the text. Due to mistakes made when reading, they will often have to read the same passage over several times to attain comprehension. In addition, non-fluent readers often do no read with expression.

Even when students recognize words automatically, they are not fluent if they don’t read with expression. To read with expression a student should be able to divide a word into chunks, using proper phrasing. Not paying attention to punctuation often changes the meaning of the text. For example:

The children, without their toys, feel sad.
or
The children without their, toys feel sad.

Fortunately, reading fluency can be taught. It is important for adults to read aloud to children, modeling what good readers do. Show children how you pause for punctuation and change your voice to make text more meaningful. Children should be read to by their teachers, by their parents, and by their relatives. The more models of fluent reading children hear the better.

Next, it is important for children to practice, engaging them in repeated reading. Text should be easy to read and relatively short. There are several ways children can practice fluent reading;

Child/adult reading – The adult models, then the student practices.
Choral reading – reading in unison.
Assisted reading – reading along with a recorded text.
Partner reading – reading along with another child
Reader’s Theatre – playing characters, as in a play.

Assessing progress is easy and most children think it’s fun. Children love when you take out a stop watch and time them. Pick a passage on the proper reading level, time for 1 minute and graph the results. After several practices on the same text, time again. The children see immediate progress and become motivated to become more fluent readers.

In conclusion, reading fluency is the ability to read accurately and quickly. It is important because fluent readers comprehend better. It can be developed by modeling and practice.

By Fran Nieporent, Private Tutor

Listening To Your Children Read Aloud

November 6, 2021 Leave a Comment

In the midst of our busy lives, we sometimes find it so challenging to take time to sit down and really listen to our children read aloud. Instead, we often find ourselves telling our children to read to themselves while we are busy cooking dinner, doing laundry, or writing a brief. However, these five minutes with your child can actually be more valuable than you think.

Oral reading is a skill in itself because it provides the opportunity for you as the parent to monitor and correct errors when your child is reading at home. When your child reads to themself, you are not available to listen to the way they read. While some parents may believe that correcting the child during reading interrupts the fluency and hampers their self-esteem, it actually may hinder their ability to improve their reading skills. This is the very reason you should prioritize taking time to carefully listen to your child read aloud.

In order to ensure your child’s accuracy and efficiency when they read aloud, it is important to keep the following in mind. If your child misreads a phonetic word, a word that can be read by sounding it out, you should point to the word and ask your child to reread it and sound it out. If your child misreads a non-phonetic word, or a word that cannot be read by sounding it out, then you should ask your child to write the word down because writing the word helps you read the word better. In this case, you can also ask your child to skywrite the word, which is writing the word in the air using your finger. This technique is especially helpful during oral reading, so as not to overwhelm the child with writing. If you notice that your child skips words or often loses their place, it is important to teach your child how to “finger glide.” This involves placing your pointer finger under each word as you read it. If your child is uncomfortable with using a finger, you can suggest using a pen to substitute. If you notice that your child is reading in a labored manner, it is important for you as the parent to reread that paragraph or page, so that the meaning of the text does not get lost.

It is important to recognize that your child is probably still learning to read, and has not mastered all the skills necessary thus far. Setting individual goals with your child to work at one sitting period can help smooth the process and make it more enjoyable. For instance, one day you can work on “finger gliding” and another day you can work on intonation. When correcting your child it is most helpful to model for them, so that they can mimic you to hear how the words and sentences should be read aloud.

Happy Reading!

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.