MISSION POSSIBLE: UNDERSTANDING OUR KID’S BRAIN
All of us, including our children, have brain constructs that, along with our various past experiences, influence how we think, manage various situations, and conduct ourselves. Understanding that we are all wired differently and how each of us may interpret what we see, hear, and feel is essential to how we, as parents, identify and recognize our children’s brain constructs, unique patterns, and perhaps, weaknesses that might guide us in supporting and, perhaps, becoming effective advocates in their development.
As parents, we are responsible for recognizing and understanding our children’s difficulties navigating schoolwork, friendships, and daily activities. This proactive understanding is the first step in providing effective support. Children with executive functioning deficits may struggle in areas such as working memory, organization, time management, focus, and emotional regulation, which are essential for their day-to-day tasks.
Flexibility, the ability to accommodate change, is a foundational aspect of executive functioning and is crucial for a child’s emotional growth and resilience. Understanding that children with executive functioning weaknesses may appear to lack motivational drive when, in fact, they lack the self-regulatory skills needed to initiate and complete tasks can foster a sense of empathy and understanding in parents.
As a professional who focuses on helping students and their families achieve their hopes and dreams, I know numerous strategies will support those with executive functioning deficits. I found that with my own kids and others who struggled with executive functioning challenges, it was important to understand who they were, not who I wished them to be. To that end, my first strategy was hands-on observation, where I created situations to observe how they completed an academic assignment or an event in their daily lives. Simultaneously and equally, if not more important, was understanding my child’s Neuro-Psychological testing. Testing reveals how the brain functions. While Neuropsychologists conduct the testing and explain what their testing reveals, once completed and reviewed, the report is often tucked away in a folder or drawer.
The work of a neuropsychologist is incredibly valuable in unraveling the complexities of cognitive brain functioning. Through testing and analysis of results, we can better understand our children (and perhaps ourselves), guiding us to strategies that will help us optimize the brain’s full potential.
However, strategies can only be effective when continually assessing and monitoring our child’s performance. As a therapeutic and educational consultant, my work takes the neuro-psych report and helps it “come alive” for the student and family. Our ongoing review enhances the value of what has been learned. It guides us in discovering effective implementation activities and age-appropriate strategies that will engage and positively reinforce the essential and needed executive functioning skills.
Working together as a team, we can better understand how our child’s brain works and comfortably create a pathway to opportunity and fulfilling Hopes & Dreams. [www.hopesdreams.com]