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Welcome to the neuro nurture podcast, dedicated to equipping and supporting families, navigating the world of autism and neurodiversity. I am your host, Kirsten Sullivan, who is on a mission to help autism families go from surviving to thriving. Welcome to the show. Hey everyone. Welcome back to another NeuroNurture podcast episode. Today is all about executive functioning. Now, a few days ago, I did a few stories over on my Instagram. If you're not following me yet, follow me at NeuroNurture underscore. Let's connect. I love meeting new people. And I did a few stories on executive functioning and how to support your child's executive functioning at home. I received. Quite an overwhelming response on needing more information around executive functioning, because this is often an area that is so crucial. It's so crucial to develop these skills and it impacts every single area of your child's life, of your family's life. So I wanted to create a podcast to dive a bit deeper into executive functioning, explain everything in a lot more detail, and also give Give you a lot more tips and tricks on how to manage these executive functioning vulnerabilities at home and at school. Now there are a lot of elements that make up executive functioning, and this can often seem quite overwhelming, but don't worry, I'm here to break it down for you and to make everything as simple as possible. Let's dive into it. Executive functioning is like your brain's personal assistant. So this is managing everything from planning and organizing to regulating emotions. Now, regulation of your emotions and your child's emotions and impulse control is a huge area of executive function that is often overlooked. So when this is out of sync. It can feel like you're trying to juggle water balloons in a hurricane, right? It is not fun. So for kids who are on the spectrum, the neurodivergent supporting executive functioning, isn't just about following the usual playbook. Right. It's about thinking outside the box, finding creative research back strategies that actually work and that fit your child's unique needs. Now I want to get into the executive functioning, we'll break down every component for you and give you some unique strategies that go beyond the typical advice you hear, like implementing a visual schedule, for instance. You know, I'm all about a visual schedules, but sometimes we just need a bit more than that. Let's get into the first element of this executor functioning wheel. And this is inhibition or also known as impulse control, the goal. Is to get your child to control their impulses with a purpose. Okay. We know the classic stop and think advice, but this only scratches the surface for kids who struggle with inhibition. You need something a lot more engaging. Okay. I love using this effective strategy and it's called power pauses. Right. So this is when you teach kids to physically pause by pressing their hands together, imagining they're creating energy in their palms before acting. So instead of saying, stop doing this, instead of saying, think about doing this. You're actually giving them this tangible physical way of physically pausing and acting appropriately, right? It's like giving them this tangible action to channel their impulsivity into something constructive. Another unique tool. Is creating personal stoplight systems. Okay. So this works really well, especially for the younger kids. And you can give your child a really small red, yellow, and green little traffic light card. And you can use this and let them use it when they feel an impulse is coming on. Okay. So pretty straightforward. Red means stop and think yellow means slow down and green means go. Okay. A lot of research out there, you guys know I love research, I always throw in a bit of research. My research out there shows that engaging multiple sensory systems helps children with inhibitory control. So let's get into the next one. And this is working memory. Okay. So this is like strengthening the mental sticky notes. Working memory. Can be a challenge, especially when kids are expected to hold onto several ideas at once. So I like to explain working memory to parents and teachers who might not understand why their child cannot remember what to do next or what they have told them to do a million times. It just does not seem to be sticking in their brain. And working memory is essentially the ability to hold information in mind while completing tasks. So beyond the visual schedules, obviously can help them try chunk and chant strategies. Okay. This might seem a bit strange, but let's, let's unpack this a bit more. So when you're giving instructions, break them down into small chunks and have the child repeat them out loud rhythmically. Okay. If your child is non speaking, try their AAC device, use visuals, use cards and get them to give those cards back to you. Or if they are speaking, the rhythmic repetition helps store information more effectively. And this is also backed up by research. Now another strategy. I love giving you guys strategies. I love just helping in any way that I can because I know how tough it can be. The next strategy is creating memory palaces. Okay, and this is a technique that is used where you work with your child to associate different rooms in their house with parts of their daily routine. Okay, for example, Let's just take, um, I think math's homework, right? Might live in the kitchen. Okay, and packing the lunchbox might live in the hallway where your child has to put their lunchbox out every evening before school the next morning. And just to jump in here a bit with prepping and Especially kids who have executive functioning challenges, the morning can be chaotic. Okay. Let's just be real here. The morning household can be chaos. So something that I like to do as well is to create a morning launch pad. So this is a little area. Can be by the front door. It could be in your child's room. It could be anywhere in the house. And this is just a little launch pad that your child can prep everything from their shoes to their lunchbox, to their bag, everything is on this launch pad, ready to go in the morning. And all of this is hopefully, and. Most beneficially set out at night. So this is also just a little trick that you can use instead of rushing around in the morning or a child can't find their shoes or their lunchbox, and it just turns into chaos. Let's quickly get back to the memory palaces that I was mentioning earlier. So each time your child walks past any of these areas, they mentally check off tasks. So as I said, for example, like math's homework might live in the kitchen, so they're making this location association between their homework and the kitchen, for instance, or it could be their math's homework in their room and, or at their study desk. Okay. And mentally checking off these tasks and making this association in your child's head between a place and what they have to do can really help them remember what to do and think about what they're doing. Okay, let's get into it. Emotional control. I love emotional control. I love emotional regulation. I love working on this with my kids because personally I feel like this sets the foundation for every single thing a child does in their life. Okay. Now we've heard a lot about emotion charts. We've heard a lot about breathing exercises, but let's be real. This can sometimes be quite boring, right? If your child is not into breathing exercises, you are not going to get them to do breathing exercises. Okay. Especially if they are in those heightened moments, some kids just do not gel with that. Now, I also will be making a post in the future of. Way more exciting elements to add to breathing exercises because the usual breathe in for four, breathe out for four can be quite boring. Okay. But there are other elements and other strategies that you can use with your breathing exercises to make it a lot more fun. So if you follow me on Instagram, look out for that post, I will be posting it shortly. Okay. But what if. We made emotional regulation a lot more personalized. Now, when I work with kids, I love using something called a sensory toolkit. So I would create this sensory toolkit for kids to really meet their needs and meet them where they're at. And we know that a regulated child can learn a dysregulated child cannot learn, cannot engage in tasks that we want them to do. So you're wanting to create a little sensory toolkit that specifically meets your child's needs and meets them where they're at and how they are able to regulate their nervous system. Okay, so some kids respond really well to aromatherapy, like calming scents. Other kids need a stress ball. Other kids need a sensory brush. Other kids need Perhaps they love coloring in or drawing to calm themselves down, whatever it is that, you know, your child loves engaging in, put that in a little sensory toolbox and have it available at all times for them to use, to regulate the nervous system. When we look at the research out there and the polyvagal theory, this suggests that multiple senses engaging multiple senses like touch, smell, sight can help children regulate their nervous system. So the trick here is to get your child to engage in multiple senses throughout the day on a frequent basis that meets the sensory profile that can help them regulate throughout the day. And this will help their executive functioning challenges. So much. Something that I also love to use is build an emotion tree. I love doing this with my kids because it not only fosters and creates the self awareness around what they have to implement when they are feeling a certain emotion, but also help them actually engage in a regulation tool that is visually on the page. So an emotion tree, you can do this in the classroom as well. If you're a teacher, definitely use it in the classroom. Each branch can represent a different emotion and each leaf is an emotion regulation tool. So emotion regulation tools, they can be different for every single child and get your child to engage with you on this. What do they need to do when they are feeling the emotion angry? For instance, do they have to go punch a pillow? Do they have to Do let their anger out in some way. Do they have to count? Do they have to just take some time outside? They have to walk. So every single leaf is an emotion. And then when they feel overwhelmed, they can pick a leaf from the tree and try that strategy that is on the branch. So there's a physical interaction helps solidify emotional control techniques. Also in my visual schedules that I provide to my clients, to my, uh, to parents and to kids, I make it extremely interactive where the child has to move whatever is A thing is on their visual schedule to the to do from the to do to the all done. So this interaction, this physical interaction is crucial in helping these skills stick and in helping your child make that mind body connection. And body connection to actually act on what they have to do. Let's get into the next one. The next element is task initiation, right? So we want to get into this phase from, I don't want to do this to a let's go. Task initiation is so much more than just overcoming procrastination. It's about finding the right entry point, as I'd like to say. So let's get into some strategies, because I know that this is something that a lot of parents struggle with. A lot of my kids really struggle with starting a task. It can often be due to a lack of focus or distraction or, uh, They might need a break, or it could be that they might just need to do something else first to regulate themselves before they start something. It can be very, very overwhelming. And this, this can often seem really frustrating because As parents or as teachers, it's very difficult to try and empathize when a child does not start their homework or they don't want to start a certain task or they procrastinate, right? It's tough for us to see that, but I want to give you some strategies that might help. So a little strategy that I like to use is called the two minute starter. Okay. So here you get a timer. You can get a timer off, take a lot, they're really cheap. And you set a timer for two minutes and have the child do just that first step of a task. So in my, on my post on Instagram, you'll see that I also talk a lot about chunking, like chunking information into smaller pieces. Parts. So getting your child to do just the first step of a task or, uh, completing their homework worksheet or whatever it is for two minutes, this really helps that starting and finishing. So research shows that when we start a task, we're more likely to finish it. So a fun little twist is letting kids wear a timer wristband. You can also find these online. And it almost feels like there are these like secret agents racing against the time. So also really make it into a game. Another really, really effective tool is the jump in jar. Now I like this, especially at school, and you can call this the jump in jar, or you can call it something else. I just like referring it to the jump in jar and you can write different tasks. Uh, different tasks are just on slips of paper and place them in the jar. Okay. So now let's, for instance, take a classroom situation where you don't really know how to get your child to start a task. You could write down all of the tasks that have to be completed in that day, place it into a jar, and then whether it's write the first sentence or clean just one corner of your desk or pack your bag, then you can really use this and, and this playful gamified approach. Often triggers a sense of achievement very early on. So this makes the rest of the task seem a lot more manageable. It is also very interactive. Kids love this element of surprise. It's a novel. They, they love interacting and it's almost like this big game for them. So doing something like that can also really help. Now let's get into planning and organization. And this is the next one. So planning an organization can be such a headache, right? For kids and adults, if we're being honest. But what if we can make this into a game? So planning an organization and prioritization is something that a lot of kids struggle with. So let's just paint a scenario here. You're at home and you tell your child to. Do a lot of tasks, right? Whether that is unpacking their bag or doing their homework or getting ready. And. You come around the corner, five minutes later, and your child is sitting on the floor doing something else. And they have not listened to anything that you're saying, or they are completing a task that you find is really not important in that moment. And you don't understand why your child is not focusing on the most important task first. This is executive functioning. So if we could make this into a game, one fun technique that I love using. Woo. Is backward storyboarding. Okay. So if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I love talking about backward chaining and this is a very similar, but it's just creating a bit of a game. So instead of planning forward, instead of planning your child's day, like what would your child's day look like after they have completed everything instead of. Working from step one to step 10, we start with step 10. So for example, let's say I'm playing Minecraft at 5 PM because I finished my homework. Okay. So this method taps into their imagination and helps solidify the steps they need to take. So this is like a, a reverse planning strategy. And this was a backed by research, especially in cognitive science and the, the journal articles that I've read on this, and it particularly comes into two project based learning. And this reverse planning strategy is super effective for your child because it's almost like we are working on their intrinsic motivation. So we are not using bribery. We are not coercing them into do anything, but just that simple phrase of something like, uh, what did I say? I'm playing, I'm playing Minecraft at 5pm because I finished my homework. The next little strategy that I love to use. For organizational skills, color coded mind maps can be a game changer. And color coded mind maps with digital tools can help your child visually map out their assignments. Now you can find, there are a few apps online, but color coding assignments, each subject or task with these digital stickers, making this organization a multi sensory experience, not only engages their working memory, but it also brings this element of play. Okay, let's move on to the next one, time management. Okay. So time management, we know the usual strategies like timers, schedules, and sometimes these don't really work. Sometimes we need something a bit more intense. Okay. So time management goes hand in hand with executive functioning challenges. This is a, an element of executive functioning that a lot of kids really need a lot of extra help in. They. Cannot really understand the difference between two minutes or 20 minutes and some of them really struggle to understand the length, the duration of how long something is going to take. So how long a certain task is going to take, for instance. So I like using a strategy called time block visioning. If you have a Polaroid camera, this works really well. So with this method, your child can take Polaroid pics, or if you don't have a Polaroid camera, they can make little. Quick little sketches, or you can have different tasks. So it could be eating breakfast, doing homework, whatever it is, and physically arrange them in time blocks on a visual board. So this gives them a tangible sense of how they day is structured and it makes this abstract concept of time a lot more concrete, so research on visual Visual learning supports this idea that adding a visual component significantly improves time management in children. So this is just a little up scale from the usual schedule that you're using. Another thing I love using beat the clock or like a beat playlist. Okay. So you can create a playlist with songs that your child loves. And songs timed for specific tasks. So for example, we could do a, a three minute song for brushing teeth, for instance. So your child knows that they need to complete a task before the song ends and you can mix it up with fun themes. Um, you could think about maybe choreographing their morning routine. And studies out there, particularly studies in neuroscience shows that music engages the brain's reward system. So this makes a task feel less burdensome. It increases that dopamine, like hello, good chemicals in your brain. And this can help your child complete tasks that might be quite intimidating, like brushing teeth. I know that brushing teeth Is quite a big thing for a lot of parents. They often read this or both time and creating this little beat. The clock music playlist could add a lot of fun, a lot of, just a lot of relaxation around doing these schedules. Now the next thing, flexibility. Okay. Flexibility is all about building the mental gymnastics. This is the ability to adapt, to change. Without losing it. Okay. So without losing the plot, it's our ability to adapt to change. Now we know that a lot of kids on the spectrum, they really, really struggle to adapt to change, right? They're all about structure, predictability. They do not like the uncertainty of situations and they want everything to go according to plan, not all of them, but most so one way to really work on this skill and to teach flexibility. It's through role playing scenarios. But instead of the classic role play, you can introduce a slight twist. So after each scenario. Throw in an unexpected element. So for example, if you're all playing a school day, suddenly announce it's bring your pet to school day or something else randomly and see how the child adjusts. So this helps them. Practice coping with surprises in a very low pressure environment in their home, safe space, and by getting them to start developing the skills to realize that there are going to be unexpected changes that happen in life, but it's how we react to them and what we do in that moment. Really, really builds on this flexibility skill. Now, the thing that I love using is also to use something called choice ladders. So choice ladders is giving your child multiple options for how they approach a task, but with varying levels of difficulty. So for example, you could say something like, would you like to have math homework with the easiest problem? Or the hardest. Now, something that I do when I work with, with kids is I always ask them, do you like starting with the easiest task first or the toughest task? Now this is, this response is going to be very different for each child. When you offer choices that requires different levels of flexibility, you're not only encouraging them to think flexibly without feeling forced, but you're empowering them and you're also creating the self awareness with, do I want to start with the toughest thing first? And move to the easiest when I know that I might have run out of energy or my tolerance level will be a bit lower. So I know that I'll be able to complete the easiest thing last, instead of leaving the toughest thing for the end, or do I want to do it vice versa? So creating this self awareness, you're also setting your child up for the future and really helping them. Being able to develop this independence and complete tasks in the future by asking themselves first, do I want to focus on the toughest or the easiest thing first? The next element is self monitoring. Self monitoring is very, very crucial in executive functioning, and this is all about reflecting and refining. Now, self monitoring can seem like quite a tall order. Okay. It can be made fun though. And something that I like to use is reflection stations. So these are designated spots in the home or the classroom with mirrors or reflective surfaces. We know kids on the spectrum or neurodivergent kids, they love mirrors. Some of them love mirrors. Some of them don't, but most of them love mirrors. And you could have these reflective surfaces or mirrors in and around the classroom with designated spots or at home, and your kids can check in with themselves after a task. So this is like a reflection exercise that you can do with your kids. And I love reflection exercises because they not only get your child thinking about how that task went, but you're creating a lot of responsibility. So you could ask things like, how did I do? And these prompts can be written on sticky notes, around the mirror, even the, the physical act of going to a reflection station helps turn self monitoring into a routine. The next trick that I like to use selfie chickens, so have a kid take a selfie before, after completing a task. Okay. And then compare these photos and assess their focus, effort, and emotions. There's a visual method is super for kids on the spectrum who oftentimes are very visually advanced. And this not only creates a lot of fun, but it helps self awareness. It's a very critical component of executive functioning. Okay. So I want to just put all of this into a real life example and a real life scenario. So let's say you have a girl, let's say her name's Emma and she really struggles with time management and let's say task initiation, for instance. Okay. So at school, her teacher implements a. Beat the clock playlist, okay, where she each task is timed to music. So at home, her parents could introduce something like a backward storyboard that I was mentioning earlier, and have Emma imagine the satisfaction of finishing her homework before dinner and working backwards from that point. Not only does this help with emotional regulation. With the emotional regulation, Emma's mom could create something like a sensory toolkit that I mentioned. And you know, if she's really into lavender scents, for instance, you know, having a lavender scented fidget or a small jar of kinetic sand can help with this emotional regulation, the sensory input. And this is just a little real life scenario of something that you could implement if your child struggles with time management and task initiation, for instance. So I want to touch a bit on South African policy, and I focus a lot on this in my, my master's thesis, but I do think that. Our policy is not geared up to support autistic kids fully, but when we look at the white paper six, we, we know that it advocates for flexible learning environments that accommodate neuro divergent learners, unique needs. And this comes down to IEPs, individualized education plans. And we need to create a lot more awareness around this, a lot more awareness around executive functioning challenges, and not just a behavioral issue that oftentimes gets mistaken for. So really creating effective IEPs that include creative strategies like this can really ensure that every child has the support that they need in order to succeed, in order to reach their full potential. So that brings me to the end of this podcast episode. And I just want to give some final thoughts that executive functioning is like a muscle that needs regular training. So whether you are a parent or a teacher or a therapist, The goal is to meet your child where they are with what they are struggling with and equip them with tools that not only work, but fit their personalities and their strengths and their sensory profile. Now, progress is not linear. We know this, but celebrate the small wins. Laugh off the mismatched shoes and keep finding those outside of the box strategies that turn executive functioning into a superpower. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you're not following me on Instagram, follow me at NeuroNurture underscore. Connect with me. Message me, DM me, I'd love to connect with you and I hope that you have a beautiful day further and please leave a five star review if you have enjoyed this episode. Until then, keep nurturing those neurodiverse minds. You have been listening to the NeuroNurture podcast. Remember to subscribe. And if you have enjoyed this episode, please leave a five star review. 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