Demystifying Executive Functioning: A Practical Classroom Guide and Toolkit

Have you ever taught a learner who either doesn’t start their work or starts but never finishes? A learner who produces some brilliant but unrelated work? A learner who can’t seem to remember your instructions?

Often, these are the learners who, despite a thirst for learning, lack the skills required for classroom success due to a potential unmet need linked to executive functioning. This accessible guide explores the executive functioning difficulties that learners may face which can pose as barriers to learning in the classroom and lead to mislabelling as ’naughty’, ’lazy’ or ’inattentive’. The chapters:

• address key topics including working memory, organisation, self-monitoring and impulse control
• contain a practical toolkit of resources, including helpful sheets to share with staff, parents and carers
• demystify the science and theory behind executive functioning
• provide practical advice, tried-and-tested strategies and ’what to do’ solutions; and
• place a focus throughout on meeting needs in the classroom through adaptive, well-scaffolded and high-quality teaching

With hands-on, simple and impactful advice, this guide will enable the reader to put all they have learned about executive functioning into practice to best support the learners in their care. It will be key reading for special educational needs (SEN) coordinators, as well as practising classroom teachers and early careers teachers.

Beccie Hawes is currently the CEO of Cadmus Inclusive - a SEN advisory support service. She is the author of five other SEN themed books and writes extensively in this area. She has also developed educational resources to support learners with additional needs. Beccie is passionate about celebrating learning differences and strives to support schools to think differently to ensure that every pupil has the chance to shine. She is a mum/step-mum to four fantastic young men and Harry and Lola, her family’s dogs.