This book provides educators with detailed information about executive function skills and evidence-based practices that can be used with students with autism spectrum disorder who experience executive function (EF) deficits to be more successful in school, at home, in the community, and in the future.
Educators often struggle with how to effectively teach students who grasp concepts but are unable to succeed in school or other learning environments. Although these students frequently experience EF deficits, including flexibility, managing emotions, controlling impulses, planning, and problem-solving, educators are given no training in how to remedy these deficits. Educators need evidence-based strategies to create supportive learning environments that build executive function skills students can incorporate into everyday life.
FLIPP 2.0 provides a blueprint for identifying the executive function skills that students need for future success, along with specific strategies that will support kindergarten through high school students in building strong, long-term gains in executive function skills. FLIPP 2.0 expands upon the information provided in the first book, FLIPP The Switch, by providing more complex strategies that can be implemented in the classroom, with detailed instructions for both educators and students on how to incorporate them into the school day. Many students struggle in school and in post-school life, not because they lack academic skills, but because they lack the EF skills necessary to access instruction and support performance. FLIPP 2.0 illustrates how students of all ages can learn to generalize these skills into new environments.
With FLIPP 2.0, readers will gain a deeper understanding of executive function skills and deficits. They will learn how evidence-based practices can be used to increase the EF skills of students of all ages and skill levels. Most importantly, they will learn a specific set of steps for gradually releasing control to students, so that students are eventually able to take responsibility for their own learning and success.
Table of Content
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Creating a Blueprint for Learner Success
• Who Will Benefit From This Book?
• What Are Executive Function Skills?
• What Happens When EF Skills Are Underdeveloped?
• Why Do Executive Function Skills Matter?
• How Do We Teach Executive Function Skills?
• How Do Evidence‑Based Practices Support EF Skills?
• How Can This Book Help?
Chapter 2: Designing the Environment to Support Learning
• Link to Executive Function
• Structuring the Environment and Evidence-Based Practices
• Structuring the Classroom Environment
• Designing the Environment to Support All Learners
• Flexibility: Making Changes Game
• Leveled Emotionality: Strategies for Using Social Narratives
• Impulse Control: SOS Strategy
• Planning and Organizing: Environmental Checklist Strategy
• Problem Solving: PLACE Strategy
Chapter 3: Structuring Classroom Time to Maximize Student Learning
• Link to Executive Function
• Structuring Classroom Time and Evidence-Based Practices
• Flexibility: Time Management Strategies
• Leveled Emotionality: Strategies for Using Visual Schedules
• Impulse Control: STARS Video Modeling Strategy
• Planning and Organizing: MAP Strategy
• Problem Solving: Get it Done Strategy
Chapter 4: Supporting Mastery Through Increased Engagement
• Link to Executive Function
• Building Learning Activities to Increase Engagement and Evidence-Based Practices
• Implementing Effective Well-Designed Instruction: Grouping
• Implementing Effective Well-Designed Instruction: Visual Structure
• Flexibility: Structured Choices Strategy
• Leveled Emotionality: Discussion Cognitive Script Strategy
• Impulse Control: SLANT Strategy
• Planning and Organizing: Strategies for Using Work Systems
• Problem Solving: Self-Advocacy Strategies
Chapter 5: Changing Behavior Through Understanding the Function of Behavior
• Link to Executive Function
• Building Positive Behavior and Evidence-Based Practices
• Flexibility and Leveled Emotionality: TABS–Take a Break Strategy
• Impulse Control: Reinforcement Strategies
• Planning & Organization and Problem Solving: I’m OK Strategy
Chapter 6: Developing Skills for Future Independence
• Skills Needed for Future Independence
• Link to Executive Function
• Building Future Skills and Evidence–Based Practices
• Developing Strategies for Future Independence
• Flexibility: PLAN Strategy
• Leveled Emotions: Visual Scale Strategy
• Impulse Control: Job Interview Reminder Card Strategy
• Planning and Organizing: Career Search Portfolio Strategy
• Problem Solving: SOARR Strategy
References
Appendices
About the author
Dr. Rebecca Silva’s devotion to children with special needs started when she volunteered in a classroom of young students with severe disabilities in college. She fell in love with this group of very special kids and has committed 40 years to the field of special education as a teacher, grant coordinator, university instructor, principal, and administrator. As the special education administrator in Riverside County California, she developed the Reach Autism Program, providing evidence-based interventions in classroom and in-home settings. Dr. Rebecca has presented on topics related to special education at state, national and international conferences. She has also written numerous grants, articles, manuals and curricula in the area of autism, assessment, self-determination, and transition. Additionally, Dr. Rebecca is committed to the disability community and has served on a number of organizations, most notable her two-year tenure as Co-Chair of the California Senate Select Committee on Autism. She currently serves on the boards of the Autism Assessment Center Inland Empire, and the Autism Society Inland Empire.