Creating Expert Learners in Remote Classrooms: Strategies to Support Executive Functioning Skills

Introduction

Many students with disabilities struggle to appropriately use executive functioning (EF) skills. EF skills are a set of cognitive processes that guide critical thinking and self-regulation. Generally, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility are considered characteristics of EF (e.g., Diamond, 2013; Meuwissen & Zelazo, 2014). These skills serve as a traffic control center of the brain by organizing and planning, directing and regulating attention, initiating tasks, self-monitoring, and regulating emotions. Further, reciprocal generalizability exists between academic achievement and improving EF skills (Melby-Lervag et al., 2016).

Going through life without these EF skills are akin to taking a road trip without packing or consulting a map. With strong EF skills, learners can plan, organize, prioritize, and implement strategies to be successful with academics and daily living tasks. When individuals plan how to prioritize tasks and complete larger projects by outlining each step, they set themselves up for greater success. EF skills provide the map for their road trip to be a successful one, getting to the destination with minimal frustration.

Under the broad umbrella of EF, there are several processes simultaneously working both independently and in conjunction with one another. These processes include working memory, inhibitory control, and flexible thinking. Working memory helps individuals retain and manipulate multiple pieces of information over a short period of time (Oberauer, 2019). This includes remembering new or novel information while additional information is presented. Inhibitory control helps maintain focus on tasks, people, events, or stimuli without becoming distracted by other stimuli in the environment (Diamond, 2013). Finally, cognitive flexibility allows one to shift between one stimulus and another with ease. EF may occur in one of two ways, either internally with thinking and learning or externally with behaviors (Child Mind Institute, 2015). All three of these processes also depend on one another. For example, if an individual has difficulty with inhibitory control and frequently loses focus on tasks, it becomes increasingly difficult for working memory to solidify. Similarly, without working memory, it may be difficult to develop inhibitory control since the individual may not be invested in a task because the information is not easily accessible.

Executive functioning needs are not disability specific, but often manifest in individuals with specific learning disabilities (SLD; Geary, 2011), other health impairments (OHI), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Castellanos et al., 2006), emotional/ behavioral disabilities (EBD), intellectual disabilities (ID), and autism (ASD; Pugliese, 2020). Executive functioning impacts learning directly by slowing or impeding the understanding of academic content, and indirectly with behaviors related to the learning process. Both direct and indirect influences of EF may manifest under several criteria of disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004). Regardless of the disability category, the areas of EF needs are often similar among individuals with these various disabilities. Learners with disabilities may struggle with organization, memory, distractibility, and cognitive flexibility (Strosnider & Sharpe, 2019). Even students without disabilities face barriers in daily academics that require multiple executive functions, including mathematics and reading which require several skills working together to solve problems and make sense of text (Zelazo et al., 2016). The barriers to accessing academics can become an even greater need in a remote environment, especially for learners with disabilities (Ziadat, 2021). For example, in a traditional face-to-face classroom, a teacher can use proximity control or a hand gesture with eye contact to bring a child’s attention back to the lesson. In a remote environment, these strategies are not effective or even possible.