6 Week Intensive Parent Seminar

How to Teach Executive Function Skills at Home:
Fostering Independent Task Completion

Presented by Sarah Ward, M.S., CCC/SLP
Due to dozens of personal requests to offer in depth lectures on parent strategies to foster the executive
function skills, I've decided to hold a small group intensive 6 week parenting seminar. This series of weekly
seminars will take place in a small group setting and allow for some individual attention while still covering
all the information on the topic.  Attendees can better understand the facts and methods of fostering
effective independent thinking with opportunities to practice related strategies through case studies and
guided examples. This  hands on approach and immersion in the topic of how to create an executive
function culture in your household will assure you move towards a stronger and more effective parenting
style. This seminar is designed to involve you in the learning process.  The complexities of the executive
function skills will be learned through direct instruction, thoughtful dialogue and guided practice. I look
forward to working with you...
                                                                                       Sarah
________________________________________________________________________

COURSE SCHEDULE

September 30:

    A. Executive Function Skills:  A Functional Understanding

    Moving past the text book definition:  A functional explanation of the executive function skills
    will be presented such that parents can,  in those critical moments of parenting quickly identify
    behaviors associated with the various component/s of the executive system.  

    B. Self Regulation- Part 1:  Thinking and Planning Ahead

    Self Regulation Skills include: goal directed behaviors, devising plans to achieve goals, using
    self talk, knowing the rules, controlling impulses and emotions to complete a task
    successfully.  Practical strategies for teaching children forethought, awareness skills and how
    to "know the goal" will be introduced.

October 7:

    Self Regulation- Part 2: Avoid the Prosthetic Frontal Lobe Trap:  How to
    Teach your Child Self-Talk and Emotional Control

    How to teach your child to have independent, automatic self regulation through self talk so
    they can "guide themselves" through tasks and or "talk themselves" through the discomfort
    associated with unexpected changes.   

October 14:

    Beyond the Clock

    Teaching your child how to sense the passage of time, change and maintain their pace,  self
    initiate on tasks and also stop performing a task when they need to move on to the next task
    of higher priority.

October 21:

    Closing the Homework Circle

    Concrete strategies to help your child manage their time and materials for successfully
    completing nightly homework assignments and long term projects.  Practical strategies will be
    given to help with initiation of difficult assignments and ensuring work is returned in a timely
    manner.

October 28:

    Material Management

    Functional strategies to help students think in an organized way and then self initiate and
    manage their clothes, backpack, papers and personal belongings.

November 4:

    Thinking and Reasoning

    Strategies to teach your child strong information processing skills for problem solving and
    social reasoning.  How to create a culture in the home that supports the effectiveness with
    which your child can recognize, construct and retrieve possible solutions to problems and then
    effectively carry out those solutions.
________________________________________________________________________

DATES:

    Tuesdays, September 30th to November 4th, 2008

TIME:     9:00 to 11:00

LOCATION:

COST:  
$450.00  Light Breakfast Provided

Register Now! Space is Limited

Click here to Register Online:

By telephone:   (781) 453-0841
________________________________________________________________________
    
Sarah Ward, M.S., CCC/SLP
Speech and Language Pathologist

Sarah has over 14 years experience in diagnostic evaluations, treatment and case management of children,
adolescents and adults with a wide range of brain based learning difficulties and behavioral problems. A
popular speaker, Sarah regularly presents on the topic of executive functions to a variety of professional
and parent organizations. In addition to working directly with students in her private practice, she has
presented to and consulted with more than 200 public and private schools in Massachusetts and across the
United States on how to implement executive function based strategies into the classroom setting.  
Copyright © 2007-2008 The Center for Executive Function Skill Development.  All rights reserved.