One of the most common mistakes clinicians make relating to work refusal is waiting until the moment it happens to manage it. The student refuses to start, so the adult explains what needs to happen. The student pushes back, so the adult explains why. Then the conversation shifts to consequences, rewards, or what the student will lose if they don’t get their work…
Author: DrKaren
Why “Demand Avoidant” Students Don’t Need You to Build Motivation First
One of the most common questions I hear from clinicians working with students who avoid difficult tasks is: “How do I make them care?” You’ve probably worked with students like this. You offer to give them something most students would enjoy after the work is finished, and they say they don’t care. You try to make the activity…
The First Thing To Do When a Student Refuses Work at School
When a student refuses work at school, more prompting, explaining, or negotiating may actually keep the pattern going. The problem? Those responses can do the executive functioning work for the or give them another way to delay the task. I once had a student who seemed to get really upset about his grandfather dying every time I…
Why Demand Avoidance Gets Worse When You Lower School Expectations (And What To Do Instead)
Have you ever had a student spend 45 minutes avoiding an assignment that would have taken them five minutes to finish? They argue about why they shouldn’t have to do it, negotiate over how much they need to complete, ask to go to the bathroom, or decide they need a drink before they can get started. Meanwhile, you’re looking at…
I asked ChatGPT where to get the best executive functioning lesson plans. This is what it told me.
Today, I was gearing up to write rant about why I don’t provide a ton of materials for executive functioning in my training programs like the School of Clinical Leadership. Then I thought to myself, “I wonder what hot pile of garbage ChatGPT would give me if I asked it where to find EF lesson plans.” Full disclosure, I do…
Still trying to do social skills intervention with a 20-minute social skills group? Do this instead.
You’ve been told that social skills interventions are ableist. But you’ve also been told that we need to prepare students for real-world expectations. You have teachers and administrators coming to you with concerns about behavior, participation, and social interaction, and you’re expected to address it. Then you’re told to make your intervention more “functional.” To…
How can I support students’ executive functioning when I’m still working on my own?
Some clinicians feel apprehensive about addressing their students’ executive functioning skills because they’re not confident in their OWN executive functioning. At the same time, they’re balancing a large caseload and coming up with ways to target complex things like language and cognition in a system that works against them. On top of all these system…
You think you need a language therapy hierarchy. That’s why your system never feels stable.
Most clinicians are trained to think in terms of progression and mastery. You work on a skill until a student reaches a certain level of performance, and then you move on to the next step. That mindset makes sense when you are teaching a specific skill, but it starts to create problems when you apply…
Why language therapy works better in cycles than in a linear sequence
If you’ve been doing language therapy for any length of time, you’ve probably had this experience: You sit down to plan, and you’re trying to decide what to focus on. Should you be working on comprehension?Or should you go back to foundational language skills?Should you be targeting vocabulary? Syntax?Should you be layering in executive functioning?…
How to target BOTH language and executive functioning in therapy with enough depth to get results
If you’re an SLP who’s wondering how you can effectively address complex skills relating to both language and executive functioning in the school systems, you’re in the right place. The primary challenge is that BOTH language and executive functioning are incredibly complicated. Even just focusing on one or the other can be overwhelming. Layer on…