Monthly Archives: July 2022

Teacher working with two students

Creating Sanctuary Classrooms

EF Conference, Recommendations, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are thrilled to feature George Scott, Ed.S., LMFT, who will share ways educators can create nurturing classrooms for students facing developmental trauma and toxic stressors in his presentation titled, “Creating Sanctuary Classrooms: The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Learners.”

About Mr. Scott

In addition to practicing as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) at the Center of Counseling Services LLC in New Jersey, Mr. Scott is certified in Post Traumatic Stress Management (PTSM) and serves as a state-wide Resource Coordinator for the Traumatic Loss Coalition for Youth Program and Rutgers University Behavior Health Care (UBHC). Mr. Scott’s accolades also include his roles as Adjunct Professor at the Counselor Education Department at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and Senior Presenter for his affiliate business practice Minding Our Children↗(link opens in new tab/window), which focuses on fostering understanding in adults regarding how to raise healthy and resilient children.

Creating Healing Classrooms

Mr. Scott has over 50 years of experience working in the field of special education and sharing his expertise in youth mental health with educators and administrators across the country. His philosophy that “all adults have the power within them to improve the lives of children” drives his belief in the power of educators to be effective and transformative “minders(link opens in new tab/window)”↗ of student well-being.

With decades of experience partnering with schools, Mr. Scott knows educators face intense demands in numerous aspects of their jobs. In his presentation at the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Mr. Scott will share with attendees practical ways educators can provide children spaces to heal and thrive.

Learn More

You can learn more about George Scott and his work:

  • Visit his personal webpage↗(link opens in new tab/window) and Minding Our Children’s website↗(link opens in new tab/window).
  • Watch his interview↗(link opens in new tab/window) with the New Jersey School Boards Association on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on students.
  • Attend ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference to hear Mr. Scott speak about “Creating Sanctuary Classrooms: The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Learners.”

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Taylor McKenna, M.A., M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Student with hands on head looking at an assignment

Fixing a Broken Model, Part 1

ADHD, Dyslexia, Learning Differences, Student Perspective

This student-authored post is part of a series that highlights student perspectives around learning and executive function in the classroom. 

The majority of people have a physical appearance that is unique. Yet on an anatomical level, the components of each face are the same. Your eyes, for example, are in the middle of your face, about a nose width long and a nose width apart. The distance from your chin to the middle of your lip is the same as the distance from the middle of your lip to the corner of your eye.

Yet it is the small differences that shape your likeness, making you unique. The human brain is the same — even though we’re all human, there are a variety of factors that make everyone’s brains different.

In school, people tend to be defined by a few characteristics, and as someone with dyslexia and ADHD, my differences have always seemed to define me. I feel these differences every day.

I started to feel the impact of my dyslexia in first grade, before I was even diagnosed. Like many students with learning differences, I was misunderstood at school, and similar situations led me to feel annoyed, confused, and fearful. All of these emotions came from the message that school was instilling in me, that something was wrong with me.

In my experience, schools ignore, suppress, and neglect the things that they don’t understand, and that leads to students being neglected. When teachers don’t work to understand their students’ differences and how they learn best, it can leave students with the belief that they are inadequate and they will ever be able to do what is expected of them. That mix of emotions can be excruciating.

Thirty-three percent of educators believe learning disabilities are just laziness. This harmful stereotype is a perfect example of how the education system needs to change. The bottom line is in order to create a healthy learning environment for students with learning disabilities, these students need to be fully understood and that starts with education. It starts with ending the belief that learning disabilities are laziness or something that can be easily controlled.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this post. 

  • C. Solomon, Student Contributor

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Student concentrating on a game

Smart but Stuck: Executive Function, Attention, and Emotion

ADHD, EF Conference, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are honored to feature a session on “Smart but Stuck: Executive Function, Attention, and Emotion” from Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., Director of Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, California, and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine.

About Dr. Brown

Dr. Brown is a clinical psychologist who received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He specializes in assessment and treatment of high-IQ children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD and related problems. He opened the Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, California, in June of 2017. In addition to presenting lectures and workshops, Dr. Brown has published more than 30 scientific articles in professional journals and is the author of the Brown Executive Function/Attention Rating Scales. He is also the author and editor of many books.

Emotions and ADHD

What role do emotions play in students with ADHD? Many students who are affected by ADHD-related executive function impairments enjoy a number of activities or hobbies where they do not display the same difficulty exercising certain executive function processes. Positive and negative emotions deeply affect a person’s ability to initiate tasks, sustain their attention, shift their interest, and engage their working memory processes.

At the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Dr. Brown will describe the critical role of emotions in ADHD and will provide information about assessment and interventions to help teachers and parents understand and effectively address these difficulties in students of all ages. 

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Brown and his work:

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Two dogs sitting facing the ocean

EF in the Dog Days of Summer

Cognitive Flexibility, Executive Function, Working Memory

Long days, peak temperatures, and high humidity…we are officially in the dog days of summer! During this time, humans and their canine companions in the Northern Hemisphere will do their best to rest and avoid extended exposure to the sun and heat.

Over the summer you might have more time to observe your dog’s daily patterns. Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking and how they learn? This is the perfect time to explore new research around the similarities in cognition among humans and dogs.

Over the summer you might have more time to observe your dog’s daily patterns. Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking and how they learn? This is the perfect time to explore new research around the similarities in cognition among humans and dogs.

Executive Function and Dogs

According to a recent study from La Trobe University (link opens in new tab/window), dogs and humans regulate their behavior in similar ways. Researchers focused on a few executive function processes: the ability to follow instructions, control physical impulses, and use working memory.

Over thousands of years of domestication, the survival of dogs has depended on their ability to obtain sufficient food and care by regulating their behavior to suit the human environment. Just as considering the context is crucial when examining executive function processes in humans, the same concept applies when observing dogs and their processes.

Working dogs, such as farm dogs or assistance dogs, have demonstrated highly developed executive function processes. For example, seeing-eye dogs have the ability to inhibit urges to chase other animals and closely follow sequences of instructions.  

Developing EF Strategies

Research in humans has shown that a structured, systematic, and explicit approach to teaching executive function strategies (the foundation of the SMARTS curriculum) fosters self-understanding and empowers students to learn how to learn. Training, it turns out, is the key factor in dogs’ development of executive function processes. Next time you want to teach your dog a new trick, consider using a SMARTS strategy!

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Students reaching in to touch hands

Harnessing the Power of Micromoments

Cognitive Flexibility, EF Conference, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are honored to feature a session on “The Power of Micromoments in Our Lives and the Lives of Our Students” from Robert Brooks, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, faculty member of Harvard Medical School (part-time), and former Director of the Department of Psychology at McLean Hospital.

About Dr. Brooks

In addition to the appointments listed above, Dr. Brooks has lectured nationally and internationally and written extensively about motivation, resilience across the lifespan, psychotherapy, education, parenting, and a positive school and work environment. He is the author or co-author of 19 books including Raising Resilient Children, Raising Resilient Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Understanding and Managing Children’s Classroom Behavior: Creating Sustainable, Resilient Classrooms, and more.

The Magic of Micromoments

Over the years, Dr. Brooks has examined the importance of empathy as an essential element necessary to form positive interpersonal relationships. More recently, Dr. Brooks has investigated the impact that micromoments(link opens in new tab/window)↗ (microaffirmations and microaggressions), especially between teachers and students, can have on students’ well-being and the emotional culture of a classroom or school.

Sharing emotions and perspective taking are at the heart of receiving and offering expressions of empathy. At the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Dr. Brooks will discuss how brief moments in our everyday lives can communicate empathy and have a lifelong impact.

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Brooks and his work:

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org