“My child has difficulty with working memory and planning.”
The executive functions are those internal processes that enable one to muster, allocate, direct, shift, and sustain the internal resources in order to accomplish a task or goal. The student with executive function issues will need to be shown how to:
· Define a problem
· Set goals
· Develop a plan
· Modify the plan if needed
· Manage time
· Organize
· Outline
· Take notes
· Draft, develop and edit pieces of writing
· Understand the role of working memory and how to compensate.
Writing requires all aspects of executive functioning. It is important to break the writing task down into manageable parts, creating a calendar for completion of each part, organizing one’s ideas as well as one’s research materials (e.g., bibliography and note cards). Students can use a variety of graphic organizers as well as the formal outline. The tutor models and the student practices formats for the paragraph, essay, research paper, and other writing assignments.
Current research indicates that difficulty with the executive functions contributes to difficulties with reading comprehension. Helping students understand the role of working memory in reading is the first step toward improving comprehension. Strategies to further assist them include identifying the structure of text, previewing text, locating words that signal main ideas and details, differentiating between important and unimportant details, checking comprehension through paraphrasing, etc.