Executive Functioning Mini Series: Part 3 - Principles of Effective Executive Functioning Intervention

Supporting our clients executive functioning skills is a team effort; which is why clinicians need to consider other service delivery models in addition to direct intervention.

That’s why in Part 1 of this series on executive functioning interventions, I talked about why clinicians should think more comprehensively about their options for supporting clients. You can learn about the first paradigm shift here.

In Part 2, I elaborated on the concept of “planning for service delivery” by describing a model clinicians can use to improve generalization; especially with social skills.

Once clinicians buy into the idea of using multiple service delivery models and coaching others, they run into logistics issues. They say, “That sounds great, but how am I going to have time to meet with teachers?”

Others get stuck because even if they find time to meet with teachers, they don’t know what to do with that time.

This is because knowing how to deliver therapy yourself is a different skill set than knowing how to document your clinical protocols for purposes of training others.

Thinking of our session planning in terms of scalability is the first step in being able to train, coach, and supervise others.

Scalability refers to potential for growth and expansion. The easier a strategy is to define and document, the easier it is to scale. You can then “scale” it by training different people in the process so that it’s happening more frequently.  

That’s why I make my protocols and materials as simple as possible in the School of Clinical Leadership.

Identifying your scalable protocols can give clarity on how to utilize professional collaboration time, because you’ve defined what information you need to share and where you might need to get feedback.

It’s often easier to scale operational things, like how to fill out payroll forms. With teaching and therapy where there’s a need for differentiated instruction, it gets much more difficult.

This is why school leaders focus so much time and effort on core curriculum. They face the challenge of implementing a curriculum that’s scalable across classrooms within grade levels, or when students move from one grade level to another.

The complexity of this task makes it difficult for school administrators to find the bandwidth to focus on adding additional layers to this process; such as universal support for executive functioning.  

When therapists focus on scalability, this can look different. Here is where school therapists can become a huge asset by adding an additional layer of support on top of school administrators’ efforts.

This could mean that while you’re planning for therapy, you develop strategies that will be easy to document, share, and coach others to do.

“Scaling” for you could happen when you train other professionals in your building to do strategies in their classrooms. It could also include creating tools and resources that can be shared with caregivers.

A caveat here is that not every protocol can, and should be scalable to the point that people outside your discipline can do it.

There are some things that have to be delivered in a therapy session with a licensed clinician. This may mean you have a set of protocols that you intend to do yourself, in your sessions, but then you’d have other protocols that you’d intend to “scale” to other people.

With executive functioning intervention, we need to be even more intentional about making things scalable; or else we’re not likely to see good generalization.

That’s why in the School of ClinicalLeadership, all of the strategies I teach are easy to scale because they’re incredibly simple and don’t require any special materials beyond normal day-to-day items (analog clocks, dry erase boards, calendars, images, etc.).

I provide a set of scalable protocols, but also give you the tools you need to create a strategic plan for putting other service delivery models in place.

The School of ClinicalLeadership is a program for psychologists, social workers, speech pathologists, counselors, occupational therapists, or other service providers who want an evidence-based plan for supporting students socially, emotionally, and academically.

About the author

Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan is the founder and owner/operator of Dr.Karen, LLC, a company focused on empowering therapists and educators to design interventions that support language, literacy, and executive functioning. She has a doctorate in Special Education and Director of Special Education and Assistive Technology credentials from Illinois State University, as well as a master’s and bachelor’s from Illinois State University in speech-language pathology. She spent 14 years in the school systems and has held various roles in leadership and higher education teaching and mentoring clinicians. She is the host of the De Facto Leaders podcast, where she shares evidence-based practices, her own experiences, and guest interviews on topics relating to education and healthcare reform. She currently holds a management role with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

You can connect with Dr. Karen on LinkedIn here.

Sign up for  “How to Be Evidence-Based and Neurodiversity-Affirming by Supporting Executive Functioning” training.

Download  “Executive Functioning Implementation Guide for School Teams”.

Listen to the DeFacto Leaders podcast.

Link to Part 1

Link to Part 2

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