Executive functions are a collection of skills that are responsible for guiding, directing and managing cognitive, emotional and behavioral functioning. They include planning and organization, creating relevant task goals, developing flexible problem solving strategies, working memory, time management, initiating new behaviors, controlling impulses, and self monitoring/evaluating behavior. These set of skills are fundamental to
academic success as they are responsible for helping a student envision a goal, plan a series of steps to achieve it, evaluate resources that will be required along the way, take the initiative in reaching the goal, inhibit competing desires and impulses, and evaluate how well he/she is progressing. Since these skills develop gradually throughout childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, many students show areas of weakness and difficulty in executive functioning in different ways and at different points in their
development.
The OSS intervention program is organized in 8-12 weekly sessions targeting a student’s particular areas of difficulty. General themes include:
• Time management
• Goal setting
• Prioritizing and organizing homework assignments
• Note taking skills
• Structuring writing assignments
• Study strategies
• Memorization strategies
• Test preparation
• Emotion Regulation
• Establishing home routines
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