Conference
Our conference will be available in person, virtual and recorded.
Hosted by Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School in Jackson, WI.
August 6, 2024
Teaching Executive Functions to Students in the Classroom
with Peg Dawson
Discover innovative strategies for addressing executive skill challenges in the classroom. Join Christian Educators for Special Education on August 6, 2024, for an exclusive workshop. Learn practical techniques and gain valuable insights from Peg Dawson. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your teaching skills and make a difference in the lives of your students. Early bird registration will open in May!
About our presenter...
Peg Dawson, Ed.D., NCSP, received her doctorate in school/child clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. She worked as a school psychologist for 16 years in Maine and New Hampshire, and since 1992 has worked at the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she specializes in the assessment of children and adults with learning and attention disorders. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on a variety of topics, including retention, ability grouping, reading disorders, attention disorders, the sleep problems of adolescents, the use of interviews in the assessment process, and homework. Along with her colleague, Dr. Richard Guare, she has written several books for parents and professionals on the topic of executive skills, including Smart but Scattered and Smart but Scattered Teens. Peg is the 2006 recipient of the National Association of School Psychologists’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
What are executive skills?
According to Peg Dawson, executive skills refer to the cognitive processes required to plan and organize activities, including task initiation and follow through, working memory, sustained attention, performance monitoring, inhibition of impulses, and goal-directed persistence. Located primarily in the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain just behind the forehead), these are skills that begin to develop in some form soon after birth, but neuroscientists are now realizing that it takes a full two decades for these skills to fully mature. And for kids with attention disorders, these skills tend to develop even more slowly.