In this episode, I sit down with Eric Smith from GrowNOW ADHD, to explore innovative approaches to social skills and executive functioning through the lens of a community-based program: Executive Functioning Summer Camp. Eric shares his insights on challenging existing service delivery models and discusses the importance of practical, real-world applications for clients. Eric is…
Category: Executive Functioning
EP 212: Re-Release: ADHD and the Appeal to Nature Fallacy
In light of the mass amount of misinformation about ADHD, particularly regarding medication, I thought it was time to do a re-release of this past episode. *Disclaimer, although I have “Dr.” in front of my name, I’m not an MD and do not have the credentials to prescribe medication. This episode is meant for general…
EP 210: Goals and Accommodations for Executive Functioning
In this episode, we dive into the often-overlooked art of writing clear, measurable goals for executive functioning. Unlike other academic or functional goals, executive functioning focuses on internal processes—making it harder to quantify and observe. Whether you’re a teacher, therapist, or part of a school team, this episode will give you actionable tools to create…
EP 207: Failure to launch, screen addiction, and preparing kids for life after high school (with Michael McLeod)
Many young adults enter their post-high school years without the executive functioning skills needed to thrive. This is often because the people supporting them underestimate the amount of support they’re getting, and there’s no plan in place to fade that prompting. When young adults enter college, they have to manage sleep hygiene, long-term projects, and…
EP 203: Frontloading, explicit instruction, and providing the “right” amount of support
In this episode, I’m answering FAQs from the School of Clinical Leadership members about supporting students’ executive functioning. I answer the following questions: What is frontloading, and why is it useful for students experiencing executive dysfunction and anxiety? When is it best to use structured, explicit instruction, and when is it best to let students…
EP 197: Scaffolding, fading prompts, and the importance of parent and teacher coaching (with Rebecca Robbins)
“Scaffolding” has become a buzzword when it comes to helping kids become more independent with academic and functional tasks, but it’s only useful if people know what it means. Watching students or your own children struggle to transition or complete daily tasks can be uncomfortable for both the adults and children. As a result, it…
EP 192: Building confidence, positive self-talk, and strategic planning skills for writing (with Dr. Nelly Kaakaty)
The writing process comes with internal resistance, even for strong writers. Most people who say they enjoy writing don’t enjoy the entire process; particularly the “getting started” part. This is why writing is a common challenge when executive functioning is impacted. Layer on issues with background knowledge, language, and decoding, and it becomes even more…
EP 169: How to support executive functioning with environmental scaffolding (self-talk, time-perception, planning)
Today, I wanted to share some FAQs that people ask about how to teach executive functioning. Some of those common questions are: How do you teach self-talk, time-perception, and strategic-planning? How do you offer help without making kids prompt-dependent?I understand that executive functioning intervention is more than just checklists and behavior charts, but what’s the…
EP 167: A framework for executive functioning intervention: Three shifts for school teams
As a professional field, we’re getting stuck in old ways of thinking when it comes to designing services for students experiencing executive dysfunction. When we think of “therapy” the first thing that comes to mind is a clinician sitting in a chair saying things like, “And how does that make you feel?” or a clinician…
EP 166: The role of syntax in supporting language processing and executive functioning
Language and executive functioning have a bidirectional relationship (Baron & Arbel, 2022; Larson, et al., 2019). This means that building language skills can impact executive functioning, and vice versa. A significant amount of executive functioning skills are required to comprehend language-based academic tasks like reading and writing. Yet strategic thinking (which is part of executive…