Giving students an "artificial frontal lobe" is almost like giving the brain a booster or a head start in the learning process. Consider these strategies as adding artificial flavoring to make it just the right taste of learning!

• Give one-on -one instruction after group or whole group lesson
• Provide guided practice as you teach the lesson
• Start homework in class so that students can ask any questions. During this time, the teacher will demonstrate the expectation of the homework task. 
• Use a project planning form for long term projects
• Sit with students to plan out time projected for each task- 
• Post visual reminders in students’ immediate sight, whether it is on their desk, on the wall, or the board

This includes writing strategies, reading strategies, math formulas. 

• Social Mentoring: A trained adult provides the students with severe executive deficits with an adult or more socially skilled peer for specific periods of the day to serve as their social coach.

You might hear students say things like, “I can't keep all my thoughts in my head” or “everything you're saying is just too much, and it makes my head hurt.” These are signs of memory overload. 

Here are a few valuable tools:

• Encourage students to use sticky notes to remember tasks in each class to avoid memory overload by the end of the day. Transfer this information to one centralized place before the midpoint in their day if possible.
• Use apps like Forest to avoid distractions while working on a task.
• Break tasks into smaller tasks.  For example, when writing, have students start with the pre-write process. Pause and conference with students before beginning the planning and outlining process. 
• Use rubrics and checklists in all writing tasks for a visual. Now turn these rubrics or checklists into your grading rubric as a time saver!

The stronger your working memory, the less your brain has to work. This can make room for more brain power when encountering new challenges. Russell Barkley calls our working memory our brain’s GPS. 

• Use guided oral reading practice exercises. Many students with executive function skills find reading boring and laborious. 
• Use writing templates, math templates, reading diagrams throughout the year.
• Present new skills in a spiraling manner. Keep reviewing skills.
• Do role-playing and demonstrations of class rules once a week.

Kiss your brain with consistency! The brain loves predictability!

• When students enter your learning space, always have a calendar with upcoming assessments and due dates of an assigned task.
• Set aside the same day each week to plan out the week on their digital or paper calendar (including students’ extracurricular activities and family events). This will look different for each student. I create a Google Calendar for the class and share it with them to edit their calendars. Students add their extracurricular and family events to this calendar.
• At the beginning of the year, develop a homework and project turn-in (this includes where things are physically turned in). Try to stick to this and not tweak this too much. Keep the same routines so that students know where to find things.
• Try to arrange for your test to be on a specific day of the week if possible. From a school-wide approach, this looks like :

• Have the schedule for the day printed on the board when students walk in each day
• Develop classroom-wide organizational systems such as English items on blue paper, Math items on white paper, reading on lavender paper 
• Keep binder dividers in sync with color coding and in a specific order school-wide.
• Use the same heading for papers school-wide. i.e. Decide if students need a Name, Date, Class Sec, and Topic and whether this should be on the left or right side of the paper.
• Perform binder checks so that students know that the organization of the binder is essential. 

• Open up class with check-ins. Take time to ask each student how they are Arriving at class. I created my own set of emojipresssions, google slides and use online resources. 
• While students are working on a task, play calming music with interactive backgrounds on a projection board when possible help to set the mood for learning and settles the nervous system
• Practice simple meditation. It is one of the most effective ways to access the use of your executive functions. This helps students who need assistance with self-awareness and stabilizes the nervous system. Calm App and Headspace App have many features for the classroom.
• Use mindfulness techniques. You can find yoga and tai chi quick exercises on YouTube when you notice students need to self-regulate. 
• Allow Brain Breaks. Students enjoy having dance parties to rejuvenate the dendrites in the brain. GoNoodle has a variety to choose from.
• Allow students to share in your mistakes and challenges. Say aloud to them that you have made a mistake and are frustrated. (For example: "Girls and boys, I have no idea why I keep spelling that word incorrectly. This frustrates me. Are there any ideas on how I can help myself break this cycle?" Start the discussion about how you handled the situation and how you could have handled the situation differently.) Students will begin to view you as a person who is just human and gain tremendous respect for you. This also creates a safe space for students to make your flaws transparent to them!