The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Results of a study designed to investigate the impact of an objectives based curriculum targeting the development of behavioral and metacognitive skills of executive functioning in students with a diagnosis of PDD will be shared. A positive correlation was found in the Behavior Rating Index of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRI) pre and post condition. The BRI measures skills in the areas of inhibit, shift, and emotional control. Implications for use in developing IEP's will be discussed. This study reviewed teacher reports of executive functioning for children with neurological and psychological disorders as measured by changes in T-scores of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Teacher (BRIEF-T) on the sub skills measured by the Behavior Regulation Index (BRI) and Metacognitive Index (MI). The measurements were recorded at the time the student enrolled (pre) and again in May of 2006 (post). The length of treatment ranged from one to six years to The Monarch School Objectives (TMO), a set of developmentally sequenced objectives in a pre and post model. Paired sample t-tests were used to examine the relationship of the dependent variables of behavior ratings (BRI) and metacognitive indexes (MI) with age, gender, years attending the program, IQ, and diagnosis as fixed variables to identify any significance. Findings revealed statistical significance within the Behavior Rating Index (BRI) pre and post test for children with a diagnosis of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). For all participants, data quantified from TMO indicates improvement in skills as measured by The Monarch School Objectives.

Kleinhans, Akshoomoff, and Delix (2005) found that ASD adults and adolescents performed well below the average range on their composite measure of executive functions. The most consistent deficit was found on measures of verbal fluency that required cognitive shifting and initiation of efficient lexical retrieval strategies. Ahluvlia, Kenworthy, Wagner, Wallace, Gilotty, and Towbin (2002) reported greater weaknesses in verbal aspects of working memory than in spatial working memory for children with ASD. Gilotty, Kenworthy, Sirian, Black, and Wagner (2002) suggested that impairments in executive abilities are strongly associated with the deficits in communication, play and social relationships found in children with autism. Ozonoff (1998) and Ozonoff and Jensen (1999) found those on the autism spectrum had flexibility and planning problems and were less impaired in the area of inhibition. Note that all researchers implicate executive function deficits as co-existing and associated with autism spectrum disorders.Although the impact of executive function deficits on school success is profound, the awareness of this issue among educators and parents is all too often limited and there are few systematic interventions available for children with EF deficits. Despite the growing literature on the importance of executive functions, little has been written about systematic interventions that may enable children with disorders of executive functions to acquire requisite EF skills (Marlowe, 2000). As more children than ever are being diagnosed with neurological disorders, most of whom will show some deficit in executive functioning, the need for intervention increases. Interventions shown to bear strong relationships to discrete areas of functioning addressed by a well-validated measure such as the BRIEF offer new and more direct ways of intervening to increase students’ executive functioning skills within educational settings. Educational psychologists, neuropsychologists, and educators all report the assumption that executive functions are critical life skills. The need to teach students these skills is documented. What is lacking is a systematic guide for helping students learn better executive functions in a school setting. This is a critical need for all students, particularly those with an ASD. This presentation will share a method that has been used for 11 years at The Monarch School that incorporates the use of the BRIEF-T to establish a baseline of behaviors as rated by the BRI and MI and then crafts a treatment plan using The Monarch Objectives to focus the work in four core areas that include ownership of self-regulation and self-awareness, ownership of relationship development, ownership of executive functions, and ownership of academic competence.
Upon admission to the program, a teacher completes the BRIEF®-T format for each child. This represents the baseline measure. At this same time the teacher rates the child using TMO, an in-house assessment instrument and curriculum guide constructed of developmentally sequenced ability statements. These objectives, categorized in terms of academic competence, social development, self-regulation/self-awareness, and executive functions, are used to guide unique, student-centered, developmentally tailored curricula, and form the basis for the individual treatment plans. The curriculum objectives form an assessment tool; teachers rate each child’s performance on a 5-point scale for each objective. A full assessment using the entire TMO list is performed upon program entry, and the TMO list is monitored and re-evaluated as needed on a quarterly basis by TMS faculty. Staff use data from the measurements of the BRIEF®-T scale to determine appropriate objectives aimed at enhancing student progress. For example, a student showing an elevated BRI scale will have an achievement plan made largely from the Novice level Monarch objectives. Students showing an elevated MI scale, but not an elevated BRI scale, will have an achievement plan with objectives chosen from the Monarch Challenger objectives. These scores are averaged with the end measurement converting to a 4 point scale that equates to the level system as: Novice = 1, Apprentice = 2, Challenger = 3, and Voyager = 4.
The data reviewed in this study have two components. One component relates to internal consistency and asks the question Are the Monarch curricula/interventions working according to its own criteria? Results reported here indicate that the answer is yes. The second component relates to external validity and asks the question, Can the progress of the students be accurately measured by the BRIEF? Results reported here indicate that the answer is yes for a group of students in the PDD diagnostic category for the BRI sub scales of the BRIEF. The significance of this finding is evident in relation to previous research on the importance of self-regulation and learning. The capacity for self-control of emotions has a profound effect on a child’s behavioral repertoire (Kochanska, Coy, & Murray, 2001; Kopp & Vaughn, 1982). Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser (2000) argue that emotionality and regulation are key components of the emotion system with implications for successful social adjustment. Barkley (1997) also reports the importance of regulatory functions in his model stating that behavioral inhibition is an executive process and is a prerequisite for all other functions.
When objectives relating to self-regulation are pivotal, more objectives are chosen from that category for the student's treatment plan. Self-regulation is pivotal for progress in all other capacities, and the capacity for self-control of emotions has profound effects on a child’s behavioral repertoire (Kopp, 1982; Kochanska, Coy & Murray 2001). Eisenberg, et al. (2000) further argue that emotionality and regulation are key components of the emotion system with implications for successful social adjustment. This observation supports the importance of regulatory functions extensively reported previously in the literature review. The TMO were developed from a perspective of understanding the requisite skills for developing executive functions, including those of self-regulation. Learners will be able to:
     Define the term executive functions.
     Describe skill categories that make up executive functions.
     Identify assessment tools used to assess executive functions in daily functions.
    Identify objectives that will be effective for use in IEP development to enhance development of EFs.
A short review of past and current literature will be shared to help learners understand the concept of executive functions.

Presenter will conduct an interactive discussion of eight categories of executive functions observable in daily functioning. A brief overview of formal assessments will offered with more elaboration on a functional, ecological assessment tool that can be used.

Detail as to the types of objectives that would be helpful to include on IEP's and ways to track progress will be discussed.

Interactive presentation. Use of Power Point with video.

Learning Objectives: