Executive functions are responsible for a student’s ability to engage in purposeful, organized, strategic, self-regulated, goal-directed behavior. In this seminar, you will explore a comprehensive model of executive functions in the brain and the impact of executive functioning on learning, behavior, and classroom production. Dr. McCloskey will explain the development of executive functions, as well as the involvement of executive function difficulties in clinical syndromes such as ADHD and autism. You will discover ways to self-assess personal executive function skills and how to assess the executive function strengths and weaknesses of students in your classroom. Learn classroom management techniques and general strategies you can use to help children with executive function difficulties improve their behavior and academic performance, either through increasing their capacity for self regulation or through external guidance. Dr. McCloskey will also discuss specific instructional programs and therapeutic approaches that emphasize the development and improvement of executive functioning.

Check-in registration begins at 7:45am.

The workshop runs from 8:15am - 2:30pm.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to:

  • Understand how executive functions develop during the school-age years
  • Describe the role executive functions play in classroom behavior, learning, and production
  • Identify and use classroom-friendly methods to assess executive function strengths and weaknesses
  • Examine executive function difficulties involved in clinical syndromes such as ADHD and autism
  • Apply appropriate interventions for executive functioning disorders in children and adults
  • Self-assess both your own and your students’ personal executive function strengths and weaknesses
  • Discover additional sources of information about assessment and interventions for executive functioning problems


WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This seminar is applicable to general and special education teachers, school administrators, clinical and school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and educational, occupational, and physical therapists.
 

WORKSHOP LEADER
 

mccloskeyGeorge McCloskey, PhD, is a Professor and Director of School Psychology Research in the School of Applied and Professional Psychology of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He frequently presents at international, national, and state meetings on cognitive and neuropsychological assessment and intervention topics. Dr. McCloskey is the lead author of Essentials of Executive Functions Assessment (2012) and Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties (2008). Dr. McCloskey directed the development of the WISC-IV Integrated and was a Senior Research Director and the Clinical Advisor to the Wechsler Test Development Group.