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Showing posts from August, 2014

The #ExecutiveFunction of Leading as a #SpecialEducator From the Front; #ManOnFire

Have you heard of the crab cage analogy? It's good. Basically when a crab enters a sea-floor cage laid by fishermen it may find some bait and it may see that it can easily get out still safely, but other crabs soon come to the scene and the cage quickly gets filled with crabs. Each time a crab tries to 'break out' instinctively, the other crabs try to claw it down. No crabs get out. They keep each other in check. I am a Special Educator on a mission. I busted out of the crab cage and I am not going back.  True leaders need to go through all kinds of failure first as they come closer and closer to success by their perseverance. I think and feel that this requires love. Love for what you do and why you are doing it. Currently, I am in an 'all-out' campaign for the heart of  parents with kids with autism, ADHD, and mild executive function skill deficits in Puerto Rico. The steam engine is pushing, the coal is being heaved into the fire, and the train horn is being blas...

Shell-Shocked Parents of Kids w/ #Autism Need Help From Private Sector

Parents with children with severe special needs commonly mirror the emotional turmoil of soldiers with PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a term used to replace battle-hardened, 'shell-shocked' men coming from war. Just yesterday I was in a particular office with four mothers, and it being Puerto Rico, the conversation was loud and inclusive. By no means would I attempt to enter a conversation as a stranger on the U.S. mainland, but the culture is different here. People are warm, gregarious and a bit nosy... kind of like one big family...kind of.. So these Moms are talking about their children with autism, and one has tears welling-up in her eyes, the other is 'unloading' her thoughts and feelings after so many years of battling and advocating for her child, and another Mom (not all at the same time) is telling me and everyone in earshot how frustrating it is that just about every year her child has to get re-acquainted with a new set of Special Educators, a new s...

Metrics & Daily Routine Accomplishment Bolsters #ExecutiveFunction

updated 2/7/16 An important metric parents and educators should experiment with integrating as part of a daily routine can singlehandedly address such issues as being a bully-target, being able to regulate and regain behavioral composure, realign and elongate your spine, change your mood, and tone a host of other executive function skills also. It is almost a silly metric that is hidden as an activity itself.  It is not a big deal, it costs nothing on a reaccuring basis, is easily practiced, and most certainly greatly underestimated.  This tool is daily posture exercise.  Directions: 1.  First roll your shouders up and back in a circle three to five x's. 2.  Second, jut your chest out and arch your back into a tense muscular hold with your shoulders outstretched back and away from your body. 3. Third, extend straight arms backward and away from your body.  4.  In this position, which is certainly a tough and tiring positio...

#CoachBill.US is Hotter than #Fire

There is a howling in the streets.. In the streets of Puerto Rico there is a howling going on for the dire need of more and better special education services. Who is listening?  Just last week on a Puerto Rican television news broadcast, people were protesting outside the governor's mansion, wailing, shouting, and a'howling.  In a time of great need, public funds have been severely cut and this has happened just as autism rates skyrocket per capita when compared to mainland U.S.A. That is just one disability. Their are scores of children, adolescents, and young adults with severe neurological disabilities, physical disabilities, speaking, gross and fine motor deficits who need specialized education that is modified and adapted so that they can learn best. But as of now, many get it on a limited basis. Their just isn't enough of an industry to service all the special educational needs.   What can the government do? Is this necessarily bad in the long-term that funds have d...

#VinayMadabusi A #CommunityEntrepreneur w/ #Autism

#VinayMadabusi is a #CommunityEntrepreneur w/ #Aspergers: Polished & Directed w/ #ExecutiveFunction Skills Coaching by #CoachBill Vinay Madabusi, a native of MiddleEarth Connecticut, holds a degree in Criminology and has a passion for doing away with the culture that leads to gang formation across his state. He is focused on working with gang members. He is focused on working with kids who may be at risk of becoming gang members. He is focused on doing 'open source' intellectual property transfers to parents from low-income neighborhoods that help their kids do better academically and professionally. He has a dream to be the change he wants to see in the world. He wants to be a benefit to others, to 'railroad' the underpinnings that lead to gang culture one person, and one group of people at a time. To do so, I have given him a tool bag to take along, aside any other tools and strategies he may use in order to create successful efficacy outcomes in his work. He has...

#ExecutiveFunction Skills Development Held Hostage in the #AgeOfAutism

If you go on mainstream television news broadcasts it may hard to find a talking head that is politically incorrect these days. This is largely due to the fact that most mainstream news networks are owned by a few handful of entities who lack frontal lobes. It is not beyond imagination to see that some (if not all) mainstream news outlets are run and programmed by hidden agendas that overrun their ability to lead true journalistic enterprises unfettered by corrupt tendencies. News television viewers are left with 'news' that is slanted towards a viewpoint, news that focuses on one or a set of topics only, and news that is okay for the ones paying for the 30 second commercials every three minutes. It may just be that all who enter the mainstream news outlets only enter if they agree to tow the unspoken agenda of that news organization. Does this mean that each of these journalist must hang up their ability to speak unbiasedly and critically? Does this mean that each o...

The Two #WorkingMemory #ExecutiveFunction Skills That You Can't Do W/O

If ever their were two most popular executive function skills, they would be in the Working Memory Family. Short and Long Term Working Memory get called into action and impact just as much when they are used, to when they are not in use. Short-Term Working Memory's definition is the ability to hold information while outputting/ inputing new information. For example, when Short-Term Working Memory is exercised, it works swimmingly well for the ability to listen to a professor speak new information, while writing notes of information said by the professor just three to fifteen seconds or so. At the same time, Short-Term Working Memory connects and collaborates with other Executive Function Skills present to not only play its part, but to do so as part of a larger orchestration that includes his bigger sister, Long-Term Working Memory.  She is known for her ability to retrieve long-ago information from weeks, to months or decades, and bring it to her little brother Short-Term WM who w...

Outflanking #BigDataMimicry By Being Human #executivefunction

Lately, I have been using the word 'outflank' quite a bit.. I like it. As an entrepreneur and a professional, outflanking has to be part of my repertoire to stay effective. When your army is small and your reach limited, being able to come up with creative ways to reach one's target market becomes essential (or at least that's what I tell myself). In an age of #BigDataMimicry where full, fake profiles of nonexistent people exist on the internet, complete with blogs, tweets, posts, and even video footage, the importance of 'outflanking' becomes tremendously important, less you want your message stifled a bit with waves of similar-content created algorithms. 'Marketing Tsunami by algorithm!'  The tsunami is not fatal, but it surely breaks down the ability, or makes it ever more difficult for real people offering and looking for services to meet. In a room with one bee, it is easy to spot the bee. In a room with one real bee but dozens of similar, yet diffe...

The #ExecutiveFunction Skills of #Outflanking #BigData #Mimicry in #SocialMedia Part One

1. Do you know that in the world of social media, one can purchase followers from fake accounts? 2. Did you know that big data crunching now can create mimicry algorithms to tailor masses of nonexistent, fake profiles, complete with blog postings, timely twitter tweets, and yet all strikingly resemblant to your own content? Of course, not everyone in Social Media is a computer-generated fake profile, but their are nonetheless legions of created profiles out their that are at the beck and call of algorithms that can be re-tailored to suit the present needs of a real customer.. like an aspiring presidential candidate, a local political leader running for re-election, a deep pocket corporations looking to seize on a cottage industry...just like the 'industry' of executive function skills development. This is la creme as far as direct marketing is concerned. It's marketing to the power of 10 on nitro in one sense. In another sense, the fake profiles created, if you can actually...

#ExecutiveFunction a lo Natural: #Fishing

On first glance, one may infer three friends going fishing, but looking closer, it is evident that their are various observations one can deduct if they were to study the painting/ drawing a bit closer.  In this post, I will unrelentlessly expose fishing itself as a major executive function skills development activity that should be part of every kid's life. With my professional experience spilled out onto a keyboard, it is possible to pinpoint and describe if, how, and to what degree each of the 30-35 or so known executive function skills are coming alive in a natural environment activity like fishing. Integrating this activity as part of a life-long routine directly and indirectly tones the:  executive function skills,   sensory skills,   social/ emotional skills,   para verbal skills,   and I guess we can't forget to mention, the concept of emotional intelligence. This is an especially pertinent message to mothers and fathers with chi...

The #ExecutiveFunction Skills Expose on #AmericanFootball

  The art of recovering from a football tackle on your way to get the ball might seem like no big feet through the lens of a camera. Just a guy getting himself off the ground. As sordid an example as american football may be when it comes to exemplifying executive function skills development, it is actually a great analogy and concrete illustrator of the exercise of such skills. Character and a treasure trove of experience in this strategy-filled game does lead to executive function and hemispheric strengthening, especially if done in a planned way. The coach, OR LEAD ORCHESTRATOR, creates and teaches action sequences to his quarterbacks, running backs, linebackers, lineman, and so on. The coach is like a scientist experimenting with choreographed, orchestrated movements that are geared towards successful touchdown in a goal-directed manner. The players each must monitor, gauge, modulate, exercise self-control, use foresight (anticipate/ predict) according to the metrics practiced ...

Don't #Backslide - Keep a Schedule, Keep a Routine & it'll Keep You!

Breaking your routine and schedule breaks your pace and momentum. The moment you backslide and meander into a change in your routine...watch yourself.  King David left the battle to his Army Chief of Staff, Joab, and found himself with too much time on his hands and made a huge mistake with another man's wife. He should have kept to his routine. He had to be in the battle. Sun Tzu recollects anecdote after anecdote where military leaders left their routines, left their adherence to the guideposts that ensure victory and lost in battle. Just changed jobs..look out! Just got married... look out! Moved to a new house...look out! Starting college....look out! Look out... Look out every time you change your regular schedule... Getting back from vacation...look out! Dropped out of school.... look out! Have a disciplined schedule and it will keep you.  Get back to your regular times that worked so well before. Never arrive. Never tell yourself you have made it and can now rest.... a ...

Guarding Your #Children's Hearts & Minds in Age of Rampant #Liberalism

Guarding your children's hearts and minds in an age of rampant liberalism requires a parent's complete set of executive function skills. The molding and compacting of daily images, sounds, and metacognitive impressions far surpass that which they receive from their parents.. or single-parents. Almost every single, if not all executive function skills can be modeled by a parent just being a parent. The ability to self-regulate, self-monitor, modulate behavior, inhibit response, focus, sustain attention, exercise mental flexibility, and have goal-directed persistence are like fields of corn that are are either harvested by parents, or left 'fallow' (uncultivated). Left to the mercy of modern western culture, children's ability to control impulses, control their emotion, or plan ahead for the short and long term are left to such well-known 'combine harvesters,' as, television and movies, sexualized billboards on the roads and highways, and a great deal of unfil...

Have a Dream,Tell a Dream, Do a #Dream

You can't stop a fella' who has a dream. I have a dream, and I will tell you a dream, and I am doing my dream. My dream serves many purposes and it is my desire to please God. In my dream, I rapidly raise the quality of life of children and adults with autism, ADHD, and executive function skill deficits. In my dream, I use creative and innovative approaches to make what was once thought impossible...possible. In my dream, I teach kids with autism to be acclimated to living outside their comfort zone. In my dream, I work with kids, teenagers and parents at the poverty level to rapidly develop their executive function skills through the context of customized entrepreneurship. In my dream, I am a servant-leader empowering others to be servant-leaders who give back to their community. In my dream, I am a small light that brings hope into hearts, and I watch that light go from heart to heart. I have a dream. I dream that families who think they are destitute see that their is hope a...