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Showing posts with the label executive functioning

A Land Ripe for #PositiveDisruption / How the #GrowthMindset Plays Into Our #Business Practices

What happens when we come together under a common goal of social responsibility for each other? Where does apathy run off to? How can an organization of leaders be led successfully? How does the growth mindset play into best business practices and is it possible to run an organization where no one gets paid at first? It started with naturally developing the executive function skills of the students I work with. Movement therapy is part of my instructional tool and strategy kit and is a tremendous approach to achieving increasing degrees of independence. For a child on the autism spectrum, one with down syndrome, or simply one with mild attentional deficits, context activities for movement therapy that I use are dancing and skateboarding. With the passage of time, these two core activities used in many (not all) of my sessions also provide a backdrop for some real-world skills which need constant toning. These are the ‘soft skills’ that are seldom understood or acknowle...

Waking the Body & Mind / #coaching #flippedlearning #realworldskills #autism #sk8

The growth of a person cannot be lopsided. Inner and outer growth has to be balanced for optimal results. Working with a mindset that everything is possible, I meet my students in a place where there are no limits. Usually, I am always at this location first and then guide in (beam in) my student. With the right approach, a great coach can move a student quickly far beyond what they ever dreamed of once mindsets are shifted. Progress in skateboarding exemplifies this.  Like most endeavors, 'success' springs forward with practice, dedication and commitment. Not just committing to skate, but committing to moving beyond a present skill level. Thus, the mindset is not, "I want to do awesome skateboarding and get really good at it." No, the mindset is, if I just keep at it, little by little, one day at a time, before long I will move across the skill continuum to become a skilled boarder. Skateboarding is engaging and demands mental acumen to be proficient or grea...

#Teaching from the Heart: #HotterThanFire4Others

What is this television thing? What visions does it tell? Are they not like food for our mind? Is there not nutritious food AND junk food? How much food is enough? Do we eat all day long non-stop? What happens when we eat late at night? Is it smart to eat junk? What do we feed our children? What kind of diet do we sustain them by? How can we empower our children? How educational is Dora and Barney actually? I saw a boy yesterday playing on some sand dunes talking up a one hour story all to himself.. completely entertained. A bright boy, big smile coming out of his big cheeks, a happy boy.. loves his tech time, but he seems to equally love his non-tech time. He sings his heart out through a microphone, seeks me for our made up 'Adventure Minecraft' time where we basically become artists. We dance a special tai chi.. all free styling, with Coach Bill throwing him into the air, around his back, 180 flips and all the time talking the story. Everything else stops in those mo...

A #Poem - #ExtremeSpecialEd Engineering in Mid-Air

Mashing up Henry Ford’s assembly line,  Dr. Temple Grandin’s low-stress, max process ingenuity,  and cutting-edge music by groundbreaking artists…  @Vaskimmusic @flightfac @touchsensitive  @henrykrinkle_ @mansionair @imdurante  @cyrilhahn @flumemusic @chet_faker   @londongrammar  @shyboy Falling in mid-air Blindfolded feeling way through Tinkering, eliminating, stripping, fitting, callibrating Passion-driven teaching  slicing atmosphere Entrepreneurial teaching  heart and soul smidgen behind for my sanity Jet propulsion on-line now Phase one wiring complete Ground rapidly approaching Falling mid-air the engineer on the engine hammering, tightening, loosening passion enters knowledge makes room experience keeps itself quiet passion moves  hearts beat in sync Ground..rapidly approaching Igniting thrusters in the last moments before impact salty dried te...

#CivicDuty -The #ExecutiveFunction Way Forward After #Ferguson #MichaelBrown / #edchat #education #specialeducation

What is won by fanning flames? Nothing. What is gained by winning arguments? Nothing. What is progressive about shooting people who have signed up to protect and serve others? Nothing. Should people be taught lessons with the knuckles of a fist? Is that what I teach? Or do I teach and model the ability to use your thinking side, rather than your reacting side? Impulse control, foresight, and emotional control are executive function skills after all.  Should we show others how we feel by cutting them down with sharp words? Should we cut our own Mothers down with insults and yelling? Should we throw tantrums on scandalous mainstream news broadcasts and stomp on cars, burn and vandalize them because we are upset with a court ruling?  No, the rule of law in a home, in a town or in our heart needs to be our gatekeeper. Just like it is very good to have police being a presence in the day and night across all American communities, it is important that children ...

No Mind Left Behind: Protecting our Kids in Age of Toxicity

"During every minute of the nine months of pregnancy, the brain gains a quarter of a million cells. The brain is hardwired to produce a staggering total of around 100 billion neurons and a trillion glial cells, which provide all the necessary support and protection. This will lead to a multi trillion network of connections capable of performing 20 million billion calculations per second." - Adam Cox No Mind Left Behind:Understanding and Fostering Executive Function Control Truly, truly, it is a marveous thing to behold. The built-in complexity of the brain and mind follows an intelligently-designed blueprint that will always exceed that of even the smartest, most versatile computer. This would not be  due to intellectual smarts, or experiental knowledge, but for the human beings ability to shift into genuine, heart felt expression, love, such as a Mother or Father has for their child. Self-less, altruistic love that seeks no payback, with no hidden motive.   Some m...

Exercise your Metacognitve Approach: The Planting, Tending, & Harvesting of Mindsets

One's executive function skills are located in the prefrontal lobe (your forehead area), and are responsible for the manipulation, orchestration, and self-management of one self, in a goal directed manner. Commonly referred to as the brains CEO, it is responsible for a host of skills that range from the ability to focus and sustain attention, to exercising self-control, or using your foresight to anticipate and predict outcomes. As a Special Educator and an Executive Function Skills Coach, it behooves me to introduce strategies, activities, and tools that are accepted by my students, and readily integrated into their daily life with the support of their parent(s).  Regardless of what their diagnosis is, I divorce my thought processes from any label that may have been placed on a child or adolescent.  I do not work with ADHD kids, or EF skill deficit kids, likewise, I do not work with autistic kids. I hope I never do. I do work with kids who have been diagnosed with ...

Leaving the Comfort Zone: Challenge leads to Learning

One thing that Coach Bill is well-known for amongst the families and individuals he works with is 'pushing the envelope.' In order to be sought out for my skill as a coach for kids and adults with Learning Disabilities, Executive Function Skill deficits, or Autism, rendering results on an on-going basis is essential.  That means that I have to be keen on identifying that fine and shifting line of just how far past a learner's comfort zone I should push them.  If we are doing muscular exercise, the ideal goal would be to do high-quality resistance training repetitions until muscle failure. The coach guides the learner to the right resistance and acceptable movement arcs so as to limit doing a large quantity of reps before the muscle begins to tremble and fail. When muscle failure is reached, it is in that moment we have left the comfort zone, and are breaking new ground. As a life-long longboarder, while living on the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawaii, I sometimes su...

Autism Awareness: 625% rise in Autism by 2030 thanks to #vaccines

Autism is set to rise at least 625% by the year 2030. That is an astonishing piece of information. At that rate, who can be spared? Moreover, future generations who are not diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum, well most certainly be diagnosed with other neurological disorders, including well-known ones, such as AD/HD. Is this ok with us as a nation? Are we okedoke, artichoke with this scenario? Must we watch like a 'dear in the headlights' as the number of neurological disorder rates climb through the roof, out to space, and around the sun? Who will be left to manage affairs? What are the major problems are that leading to neurological disorder? It is what we are consuming in our bodies: Plastics Harmful ingredients in vaccines, as well as overvaccination aluminum formaldehyde mercury Food filled with pesticides/ herbicides genetically-modified chemtrails release aluminum, barium, lead, calcium, magnesium in the air from government planes that ar...