You’ve implemented checklists, accommodations, movement breaks, emotional regulation supports, behavior plans, social skills interventions, timers, and reward systems.

You’re helping students organize materials, initiate tasks, regulate frustration, finish challenging academic work, and get through the school day.

But despite all of that support, many students still can't independently execute basic academic or daily tasks without an adult helping them every step of the way.

Teachers are frustrated because they have to prompt students through every assignment.

Parents are exhausted because simple routines like homework, getting ready, packing a backpack, or cleaning up turn into arguments, avoidance, stalling, or emotional meltdowns.

Clinicians are spending huge amounts of time creating supports that only seem to work when an adult is right there actively managing the situation.

These students are referred to as “defiant,” “oppositional,” “lazy,” “demand avoidant,” or “unmotivated”. They're described as messy, socially unaware, or several steps behind everyone else.

The students aren’t just avoiding the work.

The planning and thinking.
The uncertainty.
The transition into the task.
The anticipation of effort.
The monitoring and estimating the time.
The self-monitoring.
The frustration tolerance.

The ability to visualize steps and sustain effort long enough to reach an end goal.

When students don't have those internal cognitive systems that allow them to plan, execute, and regulate, all we see on the outside is:

Arguing
Refusing
Negotiating
Shutting down
Stalling
Wandering
Asking for breaks constantly
Needing endless reassurance or prompts
Saying “this is boring”
Saying “I don’t care”
Emotional escalation the second work becomes difficult
Waiting for an adult to walk them through every step

Over time, these students often become labeled as “demand avoidant,” as though they require an entirely separate category of intervention.

But in many cases, what school teams are actually seeing is difficulty with task initiation, task persistence, future thinking, self-regulation, and self-monitoring during effortful tasks.

You've probably already noticed that for students experiencing executive dysfunction, prompt dependence gets worse over time.

When students struggle to manage tasks independently, adults step in to help.

They give reminders, reduce demands, tell students the steps, provide reassurance, redirect attention, monitor emotions, and help students recover when they get stuck.

And in the moment, the task gets done. It feels productive. Maybe even successful.

The worksheet gets completed.
The classroom calms down.
The meltdown gets avoided.
Everyone survives the moment.

But over time, many students become increasingly dependent on external regulation and prompting because the adults have become the student’s executive functioning system.

Adults are monitoring the time.
Adults are initiating the task.
Adults are sustaining motivation.
Adults are regulating frustration.
Adults are deciding what comes next.
Adults are helping students recover every time discomfort appears.

The student may appear “supported,” but they're not building the internal processes required to independently function.

So the student learns:

“If this feels hard, someone else will step in.”
“If I avoid long enough, the task changes.”
“If I escalate, the demand goes away.”
“If I wait, an adult will help me through it.”

And eventually, the student may become completely reliant on adult prompting to function during normal daily expectations that seem easy to their peers.

That’s why this issue goes much deeper than “behavior," and why so many experienced clinicians are seeing that current supports aren't working.

Because what students ultimately need is not JUST external support.

They need to manage themselves through the process of planning, initiating, persisting through, and completing difficult tasks.

Otherwise, students become less resilient over time.

Tolerance for frustration, boredom, waiting, uncertainty, and sustained effort gets smaller and smaller.

Tasks that once caused mild resistance start triggering refusals, long, drawn out negotiations, emotional escalation, or disengagement.

Meanwhile, important skill-building opportunities get missed.

At the same time, students keep getting closer to the next grade level, the next school setting, adulthood, employment, or independent living expectations while the adults supporting them wonder:

“What happens when this level of support is no longer available?”

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone.

I've experienced every single one of these challenges when I worked in the schools.

And over the past 10+ years since I've been supporting clinicians, I've seen these challenges increase over time.

Hi, I'm Dr. Karen.

I help school clinicians build language, literacy, and executive functioning interventions that are practical in school settings that work even with a huge caseload.

I’m a licensed speech-language pathologist with a doctorate in special education, a special education director credential, and an assistive technology graduate certificate.

I spent 14 years working in the schools, and I remember how unprepared I was to work with students who presented with behavioral challenges.

On top of that, I realized there wasn't a lot of practical guidance beyond theory for clinicians supporting complex skills like language and executive functioning, so I decided to make language and cognition my area of expertise during my doctoral work.

That experience led me to launch my business in 2015, which has allowed me to help thousands of clinicians build interventions that support generalization, independence, and long-term skill development.

Teachers were seeing the same things in classrooms.

They'd come to me for suggestions when students couldn't keep up with the class, struggled to understand directions, or couldn't explain where they were stuck.

As the speech-language pathologist, I was supposed to be the expert, and I didn't even know how to handle it in my own therapy sessions.

My team was getting a flood of both academic and behavioral referrals, many of which ended up being on my caseload. We'd give them the magical IEP or 504 Plan that to "fix" things, but the problems persisted.

Like for my student who had a diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder and ADHD, had list long of accommodations and services, but could make himself throw up every time he was asked to do work that required effort.

My student who had meltdowns during passing periods and transitions, was being asked to "process his feelings" and explain what was wrong, but didn't have the language to articulate where he was stuck.

My student who would argue his way through special ed resource study hall to avoid writing, while his missed assignments piled up and he missed opportunities to build skills that would have helped him ACTUALLY write more easily.

My student who ONLY seemed motivated when he thought his tablet privilege would be taken away, but would cuss and destroy property every time he had to separate from it.

Or my student who'd had multiple outside neuropsych evals, each one revealing a different diagnosis...yet the school team knew his primary challenge was reading the room and understanding how to problem-solve, regardless of what label we gave it.

But here's the good news:

The team worked through each one of these scenarios and helped the student come out the other side with new skills, more confident and more resilient than they were before.

Accountability and follow-through, instead of vomiting on command or negotiation and arguing in study hall.

Creating the opportunities to develop interests, setting boundaries around earned privileges, and learning to use self-talk to self-motivate and persist.

Building skills for experiences, instead of just processing how we felt about them.

When I starting digging further into executive functioning, I finally had language to explain the shifts we were making with students like these.

This led to the framework I teach clinicians to support students through challenging tasks that require multiple steps and strategic-planning.

In other words, the skills needed to do tasks and skills that are essential for life, but often trigger "demand avoidance".

Executive functioning is the ability to:

Self-regulate and engage in goal-directed behavior.
Think ahead and make plans by predicting what might happen.
Regulate emotions and control impulses.
Problem-solve without needing explicit directions.
Adapt to changes in routines or unplanned events.
Think of multiple options for working through situations (have a “plan B”).
Self-monitor and make adjustments to plans with the end goal in mind.
Break down complex tasks in to steps and know where to start.
Estimate how long a task takes and steps to take to reach an end goal.
Use future thinking abilities to prepare for unfamiliar situations.
Filter irrelevant vs. relevant information and apply it.

The Time Journal Tool Gives You a Protocol For Helping Students:

Estimate how long tasks will take and monitor the passage of time while they are actively working instead of relying on verbal prompting or tools adults manage for them.
Define what successful task completion looks like before they begin working so they can independently monitor progress during the task using visuals, self-talk, and environmental cues.
Break tasks into manageable steps, pace themselves appropriately, and adjust when they fall behind or get stuck.
Use reframing to replace distorted thinking or negative self-talk about daily tasks or students' beliefs about their own abilities.

This Tutorial Will Show You How To Use Linguistic Patterns That Help You:

Use directive statements, declarative language, and reflexive questions at the right times during interventions so students receive explicit instruction when appropriate, in a way that allows prompts to be faded.
Improve students' time-perception and pacing by teaching them to use self-talk and visualization, reflection, and tools that show time visually instead of relying entirely on adult reminders.
Help students look for cues in the environment so they can independently determine whether they are on track, what others are doing, and what they should be doing during classroom routines and activities.
Redirect students during dysregulation, avoidance, or frustration in a way that promotes strategic thinking, flexibility, self-appraisal, and independent problem-solving.

Inside the Asset Library, You’ll Get:

Reusable protocol documents and visual supports you can use during academic tasks, classroom routines, transitions, writing activities, study halls, and functional life skills activities.
Editable documents and templates you can customize for different students, settings, classrooms, age groups, and team needs.
Documents that help you standardize your intervention process in therapy and special education settings, so strategies can be shared consistently across clinicians, teachers, paraprofessionals, and families.

Support The Skills Behind Independence and Self-Regulation When You Learn:

The core executive functioning processes students need in order to manage attention, follow through on tasks, and regulate themselves during everyday school demands.
Internal cognitive processes underneath behaviors like arguing, shutdowns, work refusal, emotional escalation, or “ignoring” adults.
Why many students struggle to complete tasks independently even when they technically know what to do, or even though you've explained it to them multiple times.
How executive functioning impacts flexibility, problem-solving, transitions, and students’ ability to adapt during unfamiliar or challenging situations.

Correct Common "EF Implementations Mistakes" When You Learn:

Why many school teams think they’re “working on executive functioning” even though students are still struggling with task avoidance, emotional escalation, and incomplete work.
The mistakes teams make that increase prompt dependence, overaccommodation, dysregulation, and reliance on adult support during academic and functional tasks.
How to implement effective executive functioning service delivery models that include frontloading, real-time scaffolded practice, and debriefing to improve self-awareness and long-term independence.
How clinicians can use small pilot projects and strategic planning to gradually shift classroom practices and team systems, even if they have huge caseloads and no official administrative authority.

Support Intrinsic Motivation and Leverage Appropriate External Scaffolding When You Learn:

What motivation research says about reinforcement, confidence, accountability, and why students need both "external" expectations and "internal skills" to develop resilience and independence.
How to frame rewards, privileges, breaks, and natural consequences intentionally without creating power struggles, being too permissive or too authoritarian.
How to help students gradually increase tolerance for boredom, learning curves, uncertainty, and delayed gratification while still feeling emotionally supported and successful during difficult tasks.

Reduce Arguing, Negotiation Loops, and Missed Instructional Time When You Learn:

How to reduce arguing and emotional escalation without getting pulled into long conversations that reinforce avoidance of difficult tasks.
Why excessive reassurance, overvalidation, or repeated “processing” in the moment can increase dysregulation and make it harder for students to re-engage with tasks.
How to increase mental flexibility through simple redirects, so kids can adapt to changes in routines, increase tolerance for new challenges and persist through non-preferred but productive/healthy tasks.

Time Perception Across Daily Routines Training

This micro-training will show you how to think about time-perception across immediate tasks, the next hour, as well as longer blocks of time so you can better support students during both structured and unstructured parts of the day.

Inner Voice and Executive Functioning Training

Explore the research behind internal dialogue and monologue in diverse populations, how self-talk supports executive functioning and visualization, and why teaching productive inner language supports independence.

Transitions and Time Blocks Training

Get strategic guidance for supporting students through transitions between activities, routines, and time blocks that require students to move from preferred to non-preferred tasks.

Core Clinical Implementation System

Time Awareness and Task Execution Protocol Tutorial — $497 value
Self-Monitoring and Prompt Fading Protocol — $497 value
Task Execution and Planning Protocol Asset Library — $397 value

Supporting EF Training

Executive Functioning Foundations — $297 value
Evidence-Based, Neurodiversity-Affirming EF Support — $297 value
Building Skills for Motivation, Resilience, and Follow-Through — $297 value
Supporting Emotional Regulation Without Reinforcing Avoidance — $297 value

Bonus Trainings

Supporting Transitions, Inner Voice, and Time Perception — $397 value

TOTAL VALUE = $2976

I already work on executive functioning. How is this different?

Most executive functioning supports focus heavily on adults coordinating the use of external tools like planners, checklists, accommodations, timers, or verbal reminders. This framework focuses on the internal executive functioning processes students need in order to independently use those supports successfully without requiring adults to manage them. You’ll learn how to teach self-talk, time perception, future thinking, self-monitoring, and task execution during academic and functional activities so skills generalize beyond highly supported therapy or instructional situations.

What if my students are highly “demand avoidant,” emotionally reactive, or refuse to participate?

This framework was designed specifically for students who struggle with task persistence, emotional escalation, transitions, prompt dependence, and work avoidance. The goal is not to force compliance or "doing work for the sake of doing work" , nor is it remove all discomfort from tasks. The goal is to help students build the executive functioning skills needed to tolerate effort, think ahead, regulate themselves during tasks, and teach these skills WHILE students are working on specific academic or functional tasks that will build skills associated with school or activities of daily living. The trainings will also give suggestions for supporting students who initially refuse to do tasks, which is a normal part of the process and to be expected, especially if students have been using this as a coping strategy until now.

Is this strategy neurodiversity-affirming and trauma-informed?

Yes. This framework recognizes that many students become overwhelmed by the executive functioning demands of tasks and need explicit instruction, scaffolding, and emotional support in order to build independence. At the same time, the framework does not assume students benefit from removing all expectations or avoiding all difficult tasks. Students build resilience, self-regulation, and confidence by learning how to successfully move through challenges with appropriate support.

Will this training work if students already have accommodations, modifications, or other visual supports?

Yes. In fact, many students already have these supports and still struggle with independence. This framework helps students learn how to internally manage themselves while using external supports instead of relying entirely on adults to manage the process for them. It will also help students learn to use tools like checklists, planners, assignment books, and other tools independently. With this protocol, you'll be able to evaluate students' current accommodations and modifications and determine IF some of them should be phased out, and how to do that. You'll also be able to determine which accomodations are appropriate to keep.

Is this strategy only for therapy or special education settings?

No. The protocol was designed to support generalization across settings. It can be used during therapy sessions, classroom routines, writing assignments, study halls, life skills activities, consultation, coaching, and parent support. I recommend that clinicians start with a small scale pilot, implementing this strategy with a couple of students in their therapy or resource settings, and advance to sharing their process with other clinicians or teachers so the protocol can be used across special education and general education settings. Aspects of this protocol can be used by teachers with large groups, or smaller "stations" in a large group setting.

What ages or student profiles is this best for?

The Task Execution and Planning Protocol can be used with school-age students (K-12) who struggle with executive functioning during academic or functional tasks. Many clinicians use these strategies with students who have ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, language disorders, emotional and behavioral challenges, anxiety, or difficulties with task persistence and self-regulation. However, I've had adults with ADHD or other diagnoses that impact executive functioning tell me they find the process useful for themselves as well.

The list below includes some of the diagnoses or behaviors that would indicate an individual could benefit from executive functioning support:

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism, Developmental Language Disorder, Dyslexia/Dysgraphia, Genetic Syndromes, Anxiety/Depression, Sensory Processing Disorder, Developmental Trauma/Reactive Attachment Disorder, Pathological Demand Avoidance, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Mood and Personality Disorders, Mind Blindness (Aphantasia), “Time Blindness”

Finally, it's important to not that some of the things on this list are not diagnoses recognized by the DSM-5 and are more appropriate to define as a description of a behavior that can be addressed by supporting executive functioning (such as Pathological Demand Avoidance).

Is this program similar to a behavior plan?

No. While the protocol improves behavior, emotional regulation, and task persistence, it is not a behavior plan. It can be used alongside a behavior plan if something is already in place for students, but the focus is on teaching the internal cognitive processes students need in order to manage themselves through difficult tasks, transitions, and social situations more independently. You may find that students respond more favorably to other support systems once you start teaching these skills because behavior charts or other reward systems often require students to have time perception skills in order to think about how their choices in the moment may impact what lies ahead for them in their future.

Can this protocol be used for whole class instruction or MTSS?

Yes. While the protocol can, and should be used in direct intervention, the strategy was also intended to be used during classroom routines, study halls, transitions, writing activities, and other general education tasks. The protocol is designed to support both individualized intervention and broader classroom implementation. Ideally, you can start utilizing the strategy in your small group sessions and advance to using it more broadly in classrooms.

What if teachers are overwhelmed and resistant to trying "one more thing" on top of other classroom supports?

The Task Execution and Planning Protocol was designed to fit into routines and tasks that are already happening throughout the day, so that using it takes work off your plate instead of adding to it. The goal is not to create additional systems teachers must manage. The goal is to reduce the amount of prompting, negotiating, redirecting, and reactive support adults are currently providing by helping students become more independent over time. If you're a clinician supporting teachers and you can demonstrate a measurable improvement in JUST ONE STUDENT, that can often be the catalyst for getting buy-in.

How do I get access to the Task Execution and Planning Protocol?

When you complete our secure checkout process, you'll be granted a login, and you'll get a confirmation email with instructions for logging in to an online dashboard which will contain all your program assets and trainings. All materials for this program and provided via digital files, downloads, or video.

This product has a payment plan and a pay-in-full option. This is not a subscription product. By choosing the payment plan, you agree to make all payments. Once you choose your payment option, you'll get access to all program features.

You get lifetime access to all program features as long as you're up to date with your payments.

Does this count for CEUs??

Because this program is designed for multiple disciplines, the trainings in this program are not CEUs. However, you may still be able to use some of them as part of your certificate renewal for certain licenses you may hold, depending on their requirements. For example, the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association will accept hours from non-CEU providers as professional development hours if they provide documentation of attendance for sessions. If you would like to use some of the trainings within this program for license renewal, you can download a PDH (professional development hours) completion certificate that will be provided in the online dashboard where you can log in and access the product. You can earn 6 PDHs from the trainings in the Task Execution and Planning Protocol.

What is your refund policy?

Because this program involves access to intellectual property, we have 30-day refund policy. All requests for refunds must be made within 30 days of joining the program.

Can I share my product login?

All materials are copyrighted and should not be shared and distributed outside of this program. This includes any downloadable documents, shared documents, trainings, or login information. This program provides a paid service which requires a separate membership for each person who wants to access program features. The exception would be for the digital slides or documents for the program. For these digital slides, you can make a copy of the document and take notes collaboratively with students on your own copy of the document. In these instances, it would be appropriate to share the document you've created in your session with your student or another adult supporting the student.

Are the trainings and protocols research-based?

Any recommendations on specific treatment techniques will have references cited. Reference lists are provided under videos where specific citations are mentioned in the product dashboard.

Have additional questions?

If so, send me an email at talktome@drkarenspeech.com.

Students don't build independence by avoiding difficult tasks. They do it by learning to work through them.

Being neurodiversity-affirming or trauma-informed doesn't we should lower demands whenever a student becomes overwhelmed.

In reality, students build confidence by successfully working through challenges that are just outside their comfort zone with the right amount of support.

The goal isn't to remove every difficult task.

The goal is to teach students the skills they need to manage those tasks successfully, then fade the scaffolding as those skills become more automatic.

That's how students stop relying on adults to tell them where to start, what to do next, when to keep going, or how to recover when something gets difficult.

They begin planning ahead, monitoring themselves, using productive self-talk, paying attention to time, and adjusting their own behavior in the moment.

That's exactly what the Task Planning & Execution Protocol was designed to help you do.

You'll have a framework you can use during direct intervention and a system you can share with teachers without adding another initiative to their day.

More importantly, you'll have a process that helps students build the executive functioning skills they can use long after they've left your therapy room.

If you're ready to spend less time managing behavior and more time building independence, I'd love to show you exactly how it works.

Core Clinical Implementation System

Time Awareness and Task Execution Protocol Tutorial — $497 value
Self-Monitoring and Prompt Fading Protocol — $497 value
Task Execution and Planning Protocol Asset Library — $397 value

Supporting EF Training

Executive Functioning Foundations — $297 value
Evidence-Based, Neurodiversity-Affirming EF Support — $297 value
Building Skills for Motivation, Resilience, and Follow-Through — $297 value
Supporting Emotional Regulation Without Reinforcing Avoidance — $297 value

Bonus Trainings

Supporting Transitions, Inner Voice, and Time Perception — $397 value

The Task Planning & Execution Protocol helps clinicians teach the executive functioning skills behind task persistence, self-regulation, and independent work, so students can plan ahead, manage time, use productive self-talk, and successfully complete academic and daily tasks.

You’re trying to build independence, but students still can’t function without constant adult support.

They’re avoiding the executive functioning demands of the work.

Behaviors used to derail my therapy sessions.

Many people think executive functioning intervention is about organizers and planners.

But there's much more to it than that.

Executive functioning is the ability to:

Time Perception

Self Talk

Future Pacing

Episodic Memory

Encoding

The Task Planning & Execution Protocol gives you a practical, repeatable way to teach students how to
mentally prepare for tasks before they begin.

Here's what's included:

Time Journal Task Execution System Tutorial

Self-Monitoring and Prompt Fading Protocol Tutorial

Task Execution and Planning Protocol Asset Library

Executive Functioning Foundations Training

Support The Skills Behind Independence and Self-Regulation When You Learn:

Evidence-Based, Neurodiversity-Affirming Executive Functioning Support Module

Building Skills for Motivation, Resilience, and Follow-Through Training

Supporting Emotional Regulation Without Reinforcing Avoidance Module

IMPLEMENTATION BONUSES: Supporting Transitions, Inner Voice, and Time Perception

Core Clinical Implementation System

Supporting EF Training

Bonus Trainings

TOTAL VALUE = $2976

2 INSTALLMENTS

Frequently Asked Questions:

Supporting EF Training

Bonus Trainings

TOTAL VALUE = $2976

The Task Planning & Execution Protocol helps clinicians teach the executive functioning skills behind task persistence, self-regulation, and independent work, so students can plan ahead, manage time, use productive self-talk, and successfully complete academic and daily tasks.

You’re trying to build independence, but students still can’t function without constant adult support.

They’re avoiding the executive functioning demands of the work.

Behaviors used to derail my therapy sessions.

Many people think executive functioning intervention is about organizers and planners.

But there's much more to it than that.

Executive functioning is the ability to:

Time Perception

Self Talk

Future Pacing

Episodic Memory

Encoding

The Task Planning & Execution Protocol gives you a practical, repeatable way to teach students how tomentally prepare for tasks before they begin.

Here's what's included:

Time Journal Task Execution System Tutorial

Self-Monitoring and Prompt Fading Protocol Tutorial

Task Execution and Planning Protocol Asset Library

Executive Functioning Foundations Training

Support The Skills Behind Independence and Self-Regulation When You Learn:

Evidence-Based, Neurodiversity-Affirming Executive Functioning Support Module

Building Skills for Motivation, Resilience, and Follow-Through Training

Supporting Emotional Regulation Without Reinforcing Avoidance Module

IMPLEMENTATION BONUSES: Supporting Transitions, Inner Voice, and Time Perception

Core Clinical Implementation System

Supporting EF Training

Bonus Trainings

TOTAL VALUE = $2976

2 INSTALLMENTS

Frequently Asked Questions:

Supporting EF Training

Bonus Trainings

TOTAL VALUE = $2976

The Task Planning & Execution Protocol gives you a practical, repeatable way to teach students how to
mentally prepare for tasks before they begin.