Executive Functioning Skills
Ages 8-10 (Grade 3-5)
General overview of this age range with EFS
Blurting. This quality in kids can be incredibly frustrating, and might happen throughout the day. This impacts kids socially as well, as kids begin to get a picture of how each other act toward each other. If qualities like this are not addressed before this time, these issues will compound on each other, continuing bad habits, like blurting out their thoughts.
Normal Development of Executive Functioning and Self Regulation Skills
Signs of EFS issues:
Wants to invite kids over but never gets around to scheduling it.
Hesitates to make after school plans and instead just follows what the other kids are doing.
Is still arranging materials in science lab while the other kids are halfway through the experiment.
Has a hard time starting a big assignment and focuses on the less important details first.
Frequently gets upset about small things like running out of his favorite snack at home.
Often thinks the teacher is being “unfair” when he’s told to do his work at home, even though the other kids finished theirs in class.
What would a lesson with KBS look like?
We’d pick, you and I together, the first skill to work on. We decide that it’s blurting and self control. The student and I would do some talking about what that feels like to them, some strategies to use to get through that time, and then we’d spend some time practicing sharing information and building up time to give their response. We’d talk about how that feels to get the right kind of attention for their ideas, rather than negative attention.