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…
Category: ADHD
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…
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…
Goals and Accommodations for Executive Functioning
Writing goals for executive functioning can be challenging because it’s very hard to quantify. Additionally, because executive functioning impacts almost every functional skill we engage in, almost every goal on any IEP or therapy plan is technically an executive functioning goal. When we’re focusing on other areas such as writing, reading, math, language, or other…
Co-morbidities and Differential Diagnosis (ADHD, DLD, Dyslexia)
I wanted to share this episode from the De Facto Leader’s podcast to make it accessible on the blog since this is such as common question for my readers and listeners. When kids need support with language, reading/writing, and executive functioning, they often have multiple diagnoses. This makes both treatment planning, diagnosis, and determining eligibility…
Executive Functioning Support: Three Paradigm Shifts for School Teams
As a professional field, we’re getting stuck in old ways of thinking when it comes to designing services for students experiencing executive dysfunction. When we think of “therapy” the first thing that comes to mind is a clinician sitting in a chair saying things like, “And how does that make you feel?” or a clinician…
How to make better accommodations by being less accommodating
“But isn’t this just forcing students to act neurotypical?” This is one of the most common objections I get when I talk about executive functioning; specifically executive functioning that impacts social relationships. Executive functioning skills are important for anyone interested in having relationships with others; neurotypical or not. Planning interventions in a way that is…