Learning Differences

Winner of the Counselor's Choice Award! Brothers Braden and Blake are the central characters in the Executive FUNction picture book series. One is quick to turn the smallest setbacks into the biggest life-shattering disasters while the other is...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Do you ever get the wiggles? Blake does, a LOT! And when he gets the wiggles, he has a really hard time focusing on the task at hand. So, when Blake is distracted by kids playing in the schoolyard, it’s...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Braden's parents must think he can't get enough of cleaning and doing chores! It's always "clean this" Braden or "do that" Braden! How will he ever get to bed if he has to clean the whole bathroom after...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Braden's schoolwork seems to be getting tougher each year. It's getting so tough that Braden fears it will soon become impossible to get everything done! What happened to the good old days when school...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! It seems that the older Blake gets, the more he is expected to do!  Blake's baseball team is having a bake sale fundraiser, and he just can't wait for his mom to whip up a batch of her famous chocolate...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Disorganization in children is common. But teaching children skills to get organized at a young age will set them up for success later in life! Children who learn organization skills tend to be better...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Flexible thinking allows people to think about things in new ways or to incorporate new information into a specific plan or idea. Flexible thinkers are often able to come up with more than one solution to a...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Self-control is the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behavior and to keep one's cool in the face of disappointment. But when children don't get what they want or expect, they often get upset...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Blake generally has a good time...until someone interrupts him and tells him he needs to do something RIGHT NOW! He doesn't understand why he has to clean his room THIS SECOND! And he'd much rather be doing...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! When you're a child, it's not easy controlling your impulse reactions - kids do things before they think all the time. Strengthen executive function skills and empower impetuous young people with a humorous...

Winner of the 2021 Counselor's Choice Award! Problem solving involves many other executive functioning behaviors, including reasoning, attention, planning, initiation, working memory, and self-monitoring. The one thing all of us have in common is that we...

Staying on task until a job is done can be tough for adults, so it's not surprising that it's also difficult for most children. Teaching kids the importance of staying focused and finishing tasks is something that will serve them well in life. Help...

Focusing is easier said than done for some children. Being able to focus is a life skill and can help set children up for success. School counselor Bryan Smith has developed five downloadable activities for educators to use in the classroom to help teach...

Self-monitoring is the ability to observe and evaluate one’s behavior. Give students the working knowledge of learning how to pay attention, stay on task and follow instructions with these five downloadable activities from Bryan Smith's How Did You...

Working memory is an important executive function because it helps children (and adults!) recall information required to complete tasks or functions, such as notetaking, spelling, or the order of operations in math. Some children seem to excel in this...

Planning is the ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or achieve a task, while prioritizing involves the ability to make decisions about what is important for you to focus on next. It can be challenging for children to know where to get started on...