Chapter 7

Man! I'm getting so educated! I learned another new phrase: Executive functioning! Doesn't that sound impressive? Do you know what it means? In my opinion, they are life skills the students learn as they take part in life. And you know, the more that I look at the skills involved, I suppose that those skills are more for folks that normally run their own business, plan events, and go in there, get the job done, and get on out. These are tasks that I love to do and now come naturally: plan and organize, identifying what needs to be done, determining the sequences to accomplish this, carrying out the steps and even beginning the tasks, evaluating and getting feedback. I did not learn these skills at school or even at home. Hmmmmmm. I actually was blessed to be in a profession to where I wanted to make things happen and knew I had to have a sequence of events, perfectly timed out to make them work. So I would say that in my case I do have checklists or organizational helpers like they have in the book but mine are called webbings and outlines. (At this point I don't have to have clip-art or visual supports with my planning!) I like the transition helpers: five minute countdown and timers. Let's the students know to wind it up and paces the students. I know that it helps to give the students a 5-minute thumbs up and visual timers are good. I used an egg timer at the student's desk. I do not like transition objects. Maybe you can educate me on this one. If you have used transition objects, please let me know how that was workin' for you. This strategy is a good one for anyone young or old: break down long projects into smaller steps. It doesn't seem so impossible if this in practiced...from lesson plans to housework! ANOTHER NEW TOOL! (Atleast to me!) A cuing system such as a beep tape or MotivAider which helps the student self-monitor himself when the beep goes off to see if he is still on tack. If he is on task, he connects the dots. Then earns a small or quick reinforcer for each dot. I'm going to look up The Tough Kid Toolbox and see what that is all about. It helps with students that need to stay on task.