The Executive Functioning System (Part 1) - The Air Traffic Control Centre of the Brain

Our executive functioning system is a set of cognitive processes that allow us to independently engage and interact in our world and, for our school aged kids, in the classroom. 

Key Take Aways

• A quick discussion of Monotropism.
• Exploration of the Executive Functioning System as a set of cognitive processes.
• Introduction to three core processes: Working Memory, Flexibility, and Impulse Control.
• Six of the key executive functioning skills: Time Management, Task Initiation, Emotional Regulation, Organisation, Planning, and Self-Reflection.
• Impact of cognitive and sensory inputs on executive functioning performance.
• Examples of how different executive functioning challenges might manifest in students’ classroom behaviors.
• Prefrontal cortex development and its role in executive functioning.
• Neurodivergent students' unique executive functioning challenges.
• Emphasis on understanding, connection, and collaboration over traditional behaviour management strategies.

The week's Recommendations

• Dr Ross Green's Lives in the Balance Website
• Harvard's Centre for the Developing Child Executive Functioning Resources
• Tera Sumpter’s book The Seeds of Learning: A Cognitive Processing Model for Speech, Language, Literacy, and Executive Functioning.

See this podcast in pretty pictures by following Nat on instagram - @the_audhd_speechie

Learn more about what Nat does by checking out her website - www.gospeechpathology.com.au