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“SAT and ACT prep tips for students with Executive Function challenges” might sound like a contradic...
Did you know how powerful music is for our brains, our Executive Function skills, our communities, a...
Okay, who can relate to this? Please tell me I’m not alone! Our family’s summer break always starts ...
The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, or BRIEF for short, is an assessment used to me...
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How to Improve Working Memory for Kids: 5 Expert Tips
In the world of Executive Function, working memory is a standout skill. Consider it your brain’s Post-it note! This cognitive skill allows us to hold and manipulate information temporarily – crucial for tasks like following instructions, solving problems, or even keeping track of a conversation. In everyday life, working memory is the backstage hero ensuring we comple...
When Perfectionism Paralyzes: 4 Steps to (Actually) Get Writing Done
Put yourself in your student's shoes: You’ve got an essay due in a week, and perhaps you’re not particularly looking forward to it. You set up your study space, turn on your computer, open a blank document, curl your fingers over your keyboard, and…nothing. You’ve got nothing.
Beyond Rhymes: How Poetry Can Teach Executive Function Skills
If the spoken-word poetry of youth poet Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden’s inauguration made you think, “Hmm, poetry seems a bit more interesting that I thought,” you’re in luck. April is National Poetry Month, and the fact is that not only can poetry be a fun thing to read, write, or hear, it’s also great at promoting Executive Function (EF) skills. In this week's piece, w...
Inside a Master's Mind: How Chess Builds Executive Function Skills
The ongoing pandemic has provided infinite opportunities for discovering (or rediscovering) new activities to keep us occupied in a COVID world: the joy of baking banana bread, learning a new instrument, decluttering long-neglected areas of our homes - and, more recently, the mental workout of playing chess. Thanks to the popular Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit,” c...
What is Bullet Journaling?
Everything these days seems to be going digital. Apps for this, websites for that, Google Home or Alexa taking up residence in our living rooms. It can be helpful for planning and keeping track of our busy lives, but can also a bit overwhelming and distracting. For those of us who prefer paper and pen as opposed to a digital calendar, using a day planner can be one of...
How to Memorize More Effectively (When Technology is Not an Option!)
Do you ever run into the grocery store with a short list in your head and leave with only half of what you went in for? Does your son have to memorize the names of the planets in order, numerical operations, science classifications, or the beaches of the Normandy D-Day invasion - and does he always forget one or two? Does your daughter “cram” the night before a vocabu...
What are Executive Function skills?
Executive Function Skills are a set of cognitive skills that help individuals plan ahead, stay organized, regulate thoughts and behaviors, stay focused, and achieve their goals. Each of these skills can be taught, learned, and applied at any stage of life.
- Time Management
- Maintained Focus
- Task Initiation
- Stress Management
- Organization
- Prioritization
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