Executive Functioning

Tips for developing executive functioning skills all summer:

• Praise: If you know your child is particularly good at a certain skill (e.g. task initiation), communicate that to your child and encourage him to use it to complete summer tasks. For example say, “I really like how you got started on your chores before lunch.” This will encourage the maintenance of the particular skill your child has mastered.
• Calendars: Summer schedules can be vastly different from the rest of the year, so to prevent difficulties with handling the change in schedule, use a calendar. Calendars are a great visual tool to help a child with time management, planning and prioritizing. It allows him to plan ahead and know what is expected and when.
• Accountability: Whether your child is participating in sports, dance, or going to camp, have your child be responsible (or partially responsible, depending on age and capability) for his equipment or supplies. This can help him to maintain his organizational and working memory skills.
• Summer Cleaning: If your child has difficulty with task initiation and organization in his room, take the time over the summer to organize a different space together (garage, spare closet) so you can problem solve together how to start, what to do, and how to be efficient. This allows your child to practice this daunting task with some guidance from you. He can then carry this skill over to improve his personal space. You may even find old bins or containers your child can use for his room!
• Summertime Incentives: Rewards make the effort of learning a skill and the effort of performing a task worthwhile. In the summer, there are a lot of fun activities and more time to do them! Take advantage of this and use these fun activities (extra time on the computer, extra time at the pool, going to a friend’s house) as rewards for the tasks you want your child to complete.

(Retrieved from: https://nspt4kids.com/therapy/develop-executive-functioning-skills-this-summer/)

Activity Ideas:

Plan a barbecue or a party

How to do it: Brainstorm a list of all of the things you’ll need to execute a successful and fun time for family and friends. Since this task might seem daunting—especially for a child who finds struggles with planning—write each item of the list on a sticky note or strip of paper. Then organize tasks into categories based on when they should get done. The categories could include:

• Two weeks before the party
• Week of the party
• Day of the party
• Day after the party

Then, execute these plans together. The last, but most important step, is to reflect. Discuss what worked, what was fun, what didn’t work and what you could do differently next time.

Skills supported: This activity targets attention skills, planning and organizing. Additionally, it can involve problem-solving if anything goes awry, such as the weather. Lastly, it helps promote metacognitive skills (“thinking about my thinking”) and self-reflection when considering the success of the barbecue.

Mazes and “Rush Hour”

You can print out mazes—in various levels of difficulty—from several online sources or find them in activity books. Rush Hour is an incredibly thought-provoking board game where a player has to get their car out of a traffic maze by moving the cars on the board.

Skills supported: These activities require higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills. They involve sustaining effort and persevering through challenges, focus, and working memory.

Card games (Uno, Rat-a-tat-Cat)

Rat-a-tat-Cat. Each player gets four cards valued from 0 to 9 points. Two cards are face up, so players may see them, and two get left face down. The object of the game is to get the lowest possible score by drawing and swapping cards. You can swap the faced-down cards, but it’s risky!

UNO is a competitive, standard and fun card game. The object of the game is to get rid of the entire hand of cards by matching them to the top card in the center pile. When you have one card left, remember to yell “Uno!”

Skills supported: Focus, attention, working memory, recall, processing speed, and persevering when the odds are not looking favorable. You may think you’re not going to win, but sticking with it can prove you wrong with these fast-paced games.

(Retrieved from: https://blog.asha.org/2017/06/20/put-the-fun-into-executive-function-skills-practice-this-summer/)