Solving Executive Function Challenges

Simple Ways to Get Kids with Autism Unstuck and on Target

Contents

• About the Reproducible Materials ... ix
• About the Authors ... xi
• Foreword Brenda Smith Myles ... xv
• Acknowledgments ... xvii

Introduction and How to Use This Manual ... 1

• For Whom Is This Book Written? ... 2
• How to Use This Manual ... 2
• Making Unstuck and On Target! a Way of Life ... 4

1 What Is Executive Function, How Is It

Impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Two Ways to Help ... 5

• What Is Executive Function? ... 5
• How Is Executive Function Impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder? ... 6
• Two Ways to Help: Change the Environment and Teach New Skills ... 13

2 Overview of the Unstuck and on Target! Intervention ... 17

• Three Executive Function Skills ... 17
• Four Teaching Methods ... 18

3 Unstuck: Teaching a Child to Be Flexible ... 25

• What Is Cognitive Flexibility, and Why Is Being Flexible Important? ... 25
• What Are the Key Words and Scripts or Phrases? ... 26
• Teach by Doing: How to Model Being Flexible/Unstuck ... 33
• How to Make It Fun ... 38
• Key Visual and Technological Supports ... 40

4 On Target: Planning to Achieve Your Goals ... 43

• What Are Goal Setting and Planning, and Why Are They Important? ... 43
• What Are the Key Words and Scripts or Phrases? ... 44
• Teach by Doing: How to Model Goal, Plan, Do, Check ... 47
• How to Make It Fun ... 55
• Key Visual and Technological Supports ... 55

5 Target Goal ... 61

• What Is a Target Goal, and Why Is It Important? ... 61
• What Are the Key Words and Scripts or Phrases? ... 63
• Teach by Doing: How to Model Staying on Target ... 65
• How to Make It Fun ... 67
• Key Visual and Technological Supports ... 69

6 Troubleshooting: Changing the Environment to Solve Everyday Problems ... 77

• Why Keep It Positive ... 77
• How to Keep It Positive ... 78
• Why Avoid Overload? ... 87
• How to Avoid Overload ... 88
• Why Break Things Down (When This Child Is So Smart)? ... 93
• How to Break Things Down and Help a Child Build up to Mastering New Skills ... 97
• Why Talk Less, Write More (When This Child Has a Bigger Vocabulary than I do)? ... 99
• How to Talk Less, Write More ... 100
• Why Should I Take Care of Myself (When It’s My Child Who Is Having Difficulty)? ... 103
• How to Take Care of Yourself ... 104
• Why Have Coping Strategies Ready? ... 107
• How to Have Coping Strategies Ready ... 107
• Why Think “Can’t, Not Won’t”? ... 114
• How to Think “Can’t, Not Won’t” ... 114
• Why Make Technology My Ally? ... 121
• How to Make Technology Your Ally ... 123

Endnotes ... 129

• Appendix A: Sample Goal, Plan, Do, Checks ... 131
• Appendix B: Sample Individualized Education Program Goals and Accommodations that Address Executive Dysfunction ... 149
• Index ... 157

About the Authors

Lauren Kenworthy, Ph.D.

Director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children’s National Medical Center.

Laura Gutermuth Anthony, Ph.D.

Associate director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children’s National Medical Center.

Katie C. Alexander, M.S., OTR

Occupational therapist.

Monica Adler Werner, M.A.

Director of the Model Asperger Program (MAP) at The Ivymount School.

Lynn M. Cannon, M.Ed.

Social learning coordinator at The Ivymount School.

Lisa Greenman, J.D.

Attorney specializing in issues relating to developmental disability and mental illness.

Target Goal

In this chapter, you will learn to teach how to set priorities, identify distractors, and monitor progress. The skills in this chapter will help those with ASD make conscious choices about when to work toward a goal and when to just have fun.

What Is a Target Goal, and Why Is It Important?

A target goal is something that you want or need to do that is more important than anything else you may want to do at the same time. Children with ASD often have difficulty determining what is most important in a situation. It is important to help children select overarching goals: target goals that may take a long time to achieve.

Tip

Distinguishing Between Target Goals and Whims

Target Goal: You set and work toward target goals on a daily basis.
Whims: You are constantly presented with whims that may or may not be in conflict with your target goal.

Alternative Language for Target and Whim Scripts

Target goal

• On target
• Big goal
• Central goal
• Keep your eyes on the prize.

Whim

• Want or desire
• Little goal
• Off target

Teach by Doing: How to Model Staying on Target

Point out when a whim is getting in the way of a target or help a child ignore, postpone, or modify a whim until a target is reached.