Solving Executive Function Challenges: Simple Ways to Get Kids with Autism Unstuck and on Target

How can you help kids with autism be flexible, get organised, and work toward goals-not just in school but in everyday life? It's all about executive function, and this quick problem-solving guide helps you explicitly teach these critical skills to high-functioning children with autism (Grades K-8). Used on its own or in tandem with the popular Unstuck and On Target! Classroom curriculum, this practical guide shows how to embed executive function instruction in dozens of everyday scenarios, from morning routines to getting homework done. Designed for therapists, teachers, and parents, these highly effective techniques give children the skills they need to navigate each day, reach their goals, and succeed inside and outside the classroom.

This book helps you:

• Understand executive function- why it's important and why it's challenging for children with autism
• Teach three skills critical to success: flexibility, goal setting, and organisation
• Use consistent scripts and key words to help children process your message
• Model desired behaviours -and fade your guidance as children generalise skills
• Provide simple, effective visual cues that keep kids unstuck and on target
• Keep it fun and positive, with tips on creative, playful ways to teach executive function skills

Practical Materials:

• Dozens of specific, easy-to-do examples
• "Goal, Plan, Do, Check" scripts and worksheets that break down tasks into small, achievable chunks
• key words and phrases that help kids stay on target
• reproducible visual aids;
• sample IEP goals.

Help children with autism

• Compromise with family and friends
• Turn "big deals" into "little deals"
• Move on to Plan B when Plan A doesn't work
• Make plans and carry them out
• Solve problems independently
• Be a good friend
• Handle disappointments and unexpected events
• Avoid "whim goals" that get them off track

Table of Contents

About the Reproducible Materials

About the Authors

Foreword

Brenda Smith Myles

Acknowledgments

Introduction and How to Use This Manual

For Whom Is This Book Written?

How to Use This Manual

Making Unstuck and On Target! a Way of Life

1. What Is Executive Function, How Is It Impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Two Ways to Help
• What Is Executive Function?
• How Is Executive Function
• Impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• Two Ways to Help: Change the Environment and Teach New Skills
2. Overview of the Unstuck and on Target! Intervention
• Three Executive Function Skills
• How Do You Make It Happen? Four Teaching Methods
3. Unstuck: Teaching a Child to Be Flexible
• What Is Cognitive Flexibility, and Why Is Being Flexible Important?
• What Are the Key Words and Scripts or Phrases?
• Teach by Doing: How to Model Being Flexible/Unstuck
• How to Make It Fun
• Key Visual and Technological Supports
4. On Target: Planning to Achieve Your Goals
• What Are Goal Setting and Planning, and Why Are They Important?
• What Are the Key Words and Scripts or Phrases?
• Teach by Doing: How to Model Goal, Plan, Do, Check
• How to Make It Fun
• Key Visual and Technological Supports
5. Target Goal
• What Is a Target Goal, and Why Is It Important?
• What Are the Key Words and Scripts or Phrases?
• Teach by Doing: How to Model Staying on Target
• How to Make It Fun
• Key Visual and Technological Supports
6. Troubleshooting: Changing the Environment to Solve Everyday Problems
• Why Keep It Positive
• How to Keep It Positive
• Why Avoid Overload?
• How to Avoid Overload
• Why Break Things Down (When This Child Is So Smart)?
• How to Break Things Down and Help a Child Build up to Mastering New Skills
• Why Talk Less, Write More (When This Child Has a Bigger Vocabulary than I do)?
• How to Talk Less, Write More
• Why Should I Take Care of Myself (When It's My Child Who Is Having Difficulty)?
• How to Take Care of Yourself
• Why Have Coping Strategies Ready
• How to Have Coping Strategies Ready
• Why Think "Can't, Not Won't"?
• How to Think "Can't, Not Won't"
• Why Make Technology My Ally?
• How to Make Technology Your Ally

Endnotes

Appendix A: Sample Goal, Plan, Do, Checks

Appendix B: Sample Individualized

Education Program Goals and Accommodations that Address Executive Dysfunction

Index