Lorelei Woerner- Eisner, George McCloskey – Executive Function

Broaden your view of executive function and increase your effectiveness as a therapist.Principles of Executive Function Levels of the Whole Person

• Physical – movement, posture and anatomy
• Breath and physiological systems
• Intellect – cognition, self-expression and sensory
• Personality – preferences, values and behaviors
• Emotional tone and the subjective
• Brain development & autonomic nervous system (ANS)
• Pruning and the use it or lose it principle
• Vagus nerve’s relation to physical and emotional effects

Effects of Stress on EF

• Effect on neural networks
• Cortisol and fight/flight effect on the brain
• Differences between fear and anxiety
• Getting to the basis of anger and frustration

The Gut Brain

• Enteric nervous system: the “second brain”
• Neurotransmitters in the gut that affect mood
• ADHD-gut connection
• Enhance mood and memory through nutrition

Sensory Processing

• 3 developmental levels of regulation
• Swings effect on the Reticular Activating System
• Adjustments in sensory input to create balance
• Calm the sympathetic nervous system thru sensory input

Strategies to Develop Healthy Habits

• Using your mind to change your brain
• Power of thought and visualization
• Routines and steps to build habits
• Enhancing neurogenesis and neuroplasticity

Yoga, Mindfulness and Meditation Principles

• Mind-body-breath connection
• Yoga poses for self-regulation
• Interoception to build deeper self-awareness
• Power of the pause

Breath and Regulation Techniques

• Using breath to affect arousal levels
• Increasing and decreasing heart rate and blood pressure
• Supports movement and posture
• Techniques for focus, delayed gratification and processing in the pause

Sensory Processing Strategies

• Using the sensory systems to promote self-regulation and calm the sympathetic nervous system
• Looking at rhythmicity and touch as factors in enhancing EF

Attention-Memory Connection

• Learning requirements for memory
• Emotion-motivation connection
• Intrinsic motivation to enhance processing
• The driving force of optimism and hope
• How multi-tasking is counter-productive
• Strategies that support focus and recall

Putting the pause on Impulsivity

• Marshmallows: the importance of learning to wait
• Anti-rush therapy to promote waiting
• Do-overs to teach healthy alternatives

Self-Generation and Self-Determination

• Promote delayed gratification, self-monitoring, task initiation, emotional control
• Supporting persistence to stick with dull and challenging activities
• Allowing time for processing, planning and self-correction

Strategies for Healthy Social Connections:

• Using the whole self as a therapeutic tool: emotion, modeling and positioning
• The power of relationship in therapeutic effectiveness
• Cuing and facilitation to promote participation, engagement and increased independence
• Teaching tolerance and awareness

Treatment Strategies for Challenging Emotions

• Decreasing stress to facilitate EF
• Understanding fear, as the basis for many challenging emotions
• Using the teachable-moment “failures”

Walk away from this online course with ideas to stimulate your own creativity, and strategies to facilitate cooperation and carry-over in your clients.

Featuring George McCloskey, PhD, International Expert and Best-Selling Author of Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties and Essentials of Executive Functions Assessment

Drawing on Dr. McCloskey’s clinical expertise and experience, you will develop the skills you need to better assess, grow and improve executive functioning in your clients. With captivating descriptive examples, engaging case illustrations, and proven strategies you can immediately implement, you can help your client change their brain and behavior!