Strategies for Kick-starting Tasks for High School Pupils
In the realm of learning and behaviour, emotional control and executive functioning skills play a crucial role for individuals diagnosed with autism and ADHD. These essential skills, which include planning, organization, task initiation, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and emotional regulation, are vital for goal-directed behaviour and learning.
For those with ADHD, emotional dysregulation often presents itself through impulsivity, mood swings, irritability, and difficulty managing intense emotions. This stems from neurobiological differences in the prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control and executive functions like planning, working memory, and inhibitory control. Consequently, individuals with ADHD may act rapidly without fully considering consequences, which affects learning by disrupting focus and behaviour regulation.
On the other hand, emotional challenges in autism are more closely tied to sensory sensitivities and difficulties interpreting social cues. Emotional reactions may include tantrums, withdrawal, or self-injury. These sensory and social comprehension challenges interfere with emotional regulation and executive functioning, impacting social interactions and engagement in learning environments.
Fortunately, tailored interventions can help build executive skills and emotional regulation capacities, providing essential support for improved learning outcomes and quality of life. Approaches such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) therapy and other interventions target these deficits by breaking down tasks into manageable steps, using visual supports, and reinforcing positive behaviours. Structured routines and social stories also help individuals anticipate transitions, reduce anxiety, and build coping strategies.
Improving emotional control through strategies like mindfulness, deep breathing, and cognitive-behavioral approaches can reduce anxiety and frustration, enabling better behavioural regulation and social functioning. Enhancing executive functioning supports academic success, social skills, and independence.
A skills assessment can help evaluate and create goals around executive functioning skills like emotional control. Unhealthy strategies for emotional control in teens and adults include avoidance, excessive social media use, procrastination, physical or verbal aggression, self-injury, self-harm, and substance abuse. Reaching out to a professional or life-skills coach can help plan next steps for improving emotional control. Coordinating with a learner's existing care team can help align strategies and avoid repeating anything already tried and not helpful.
Life Skills Advocate offers virtual executive-functioning coaching, providing resources on teaching executive functioning skills and reducing challenging behaviours. The Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury & Recovery and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University also offer valuable resources on emotion regulation and building core capabilities for life.
As emotional control skills develop from infancy through adulthood, it is essential to provide ongoing support and intervention for individuals with autism and ADHD. With the right resources and strategies, these individuals can develop the skills they need to navigate their unique learning and emotional challenges, leading to improved outcomes and a higher quality of life.
In the realm of education-and-self-development, focusing on life skills such as time management and personal-growth, particularly emotional control and executive functioning, plays a crucial role in supporting individuals diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Tailored interventions, including approaches like Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) therapy, can help build these essential skills, enabling improved learning outcomes, social interactions, and quality of life.
