Conversation Cards Executive Functions - Secondary Education

Conversation cards for executive functions - secondary education

All coaches, supervisors, and remedial teachers want to talk with children. That is our motivation for developing conversation cards about executive functions (EF). By engaging in conversation, you discover what the underlying need is and together you can make clear what is already going well and what could be improved.

What are executive functions and why is it important to work on them?

Executive functions are 11 skills you need to succeed in life: * at school * at work * in your relationships with others * in your personal life

The 11 executive functions are:
- Thinking skills 1. planning 2. organizing 3. time management 4. working memory 5. metacognition
- Behavioral skills 6. response inhibition 7. emotional regulation 8. sustained attention 9. task initiation 10. flexibility 11. goal-directed persistence

How can you use the cards?

This is one of the possibilities:

The parents' request for help is: “My son cannot plan and we always argue about it at home. He doesn't manage to finish his homework and does it at the last minute, which causes stress for him and for us.”

The coach takes out the conversation cards with the Planning section and discusses the statements on them. By using probing questions, it is determined whether he truly cannot plan or if something else might be going on. From the conversation with the child, it appears that he is very good at packing his football bag and his own suitcase. In that situation, he can plan. You can now discuss with the child how he will make the transition from packing his football bag to planning his homework.

It could also be that the problem lies more in a lack of overview. In that case, you could, for example, use the time management cards.

Both the child and you will gain a good insight into what you will work on together in this way.

Examples of a statement on a planning conversation card: * I use strategies to remember my homework. * I always or mostly have the right materials I need to do and study my homework. * A calendar or planner helps me reduce stress during tests.