Part IIIb: Review of Guidelines for Strategic

Networks

Student without fluency in textbook use

Principle II. Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Guideline 4: Provide options for physical action 4.1 Options in the mode of physical response 4.2 Options in the means of navigation 4.3 Options for accessing tools and assistive technologies

Guideline 5: Provide options for expressive skills and fluency 5.1 Options in the media for communication 5.2 Options in the tools for composition and problem solving 5.3 Options in the scaffolds for practice and performance

Guideline 6: Provide options for executive functions 6.1 Options that guide effective goal-setting 6.2 Options that support planning and strategy development 6.3 Options that facilitate managing information and resources 6.4 Options that enhance capacity for monitoring progress

Strategic Networks

Guideline 4: Provide options for physical action 4.1 Options in the mode of physical response 4.2 Options in the means of navigation 4.3 Options for accessing tools and assistive technologies

Strategic Networks

Guideline 5: Provide options for expressive skills and fluency

5.1 Options in the media for communication 5.2 Options in the tools for composition and problem solving 5.3 Options in the scaffolds for practice and performance

The Problem of Ruth:Individual Differences 2

Strategic Networks

Guideline 6: Provide options for executive functions

6.1 Options that guide effective goal-setting 6.2 Options that support planning and strategy development 6.3 Options that facilitate managing information and resources 6.4 Options that enhance capacity for monitoring progress

Strategic Networks

Guideline 6: Provide options for executive functionsAt the highest level of the human capacity to act skillfully are the so-called "executive functions." Associated with prefrontal cortex in the brain, these capabilities allow humans to overcome impulsive, short-term reactions to their environment and instead to set long-term goals, plan effective strategies for reaching those goals, monitor their progress, and modify strategies as needed. Of critical importance to educators is the fact that executive functions have very limited capacity and are especially vulnerable to disability. This is true because executive capacity is sharply reduced when: 1) executive functioning capacity must be devoted to managing "lower level" skills and responses which are not automatic or fluent (due to either disability or inexperience) and thus the capacity for "higher level" functions is taken; and 2) executive capacity itself is reduced due to some sort of higher level disability or to lack of fluency with executive strategies.

Strategic Networks

The UDL approach typically involves efforts to expand executive capacity in two ways: 1) by scaffolding lower level skills so that they require less executive processing; and 2) by scaffolding higher level executive skills and strategies so that they are more effective and developed. Previous guidelines have addressed lower level scaffolding, this guideline addresses ways to provide scaffolding for executive functions themselves.

How do you decide what to scaffold?

How do you decide what to scaffold?

Executive Functions

Skills and Fluency

Motor Abilities

How do you decide what to scaffold?

Executive Functions

Skills and Fluency

Motor Abilities

It depends on WHAT the Goal is!

Goals Materials Methods Assessment

Executive Functions x

Skills and Fluency

Motor Abilities

The Goal affects all of the other choices in the curriculum.

Lets Think about Assessment

Goals Materials Methods Assessment

Executive Functions x

Skills and Fluency

Motor Abilities

It depends on WHO is learning.

Goals Materials Methods Assessment

Executive Functions x

Skills and Fluency

Motor Abilities

Goals Materials Methods Assessment

Executive Functions

Skills and Fluency x

Motor Abilities

Principle II. Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Guideline 4: Provide options for physical action 4.1 Options in the mode of physical response 4.2 Options in the means of navigation 4.3 Options for accessing tools and assistive technologies

Guideline 5: Provide options for expressive skills and fluency 5.1 Options in the media for communication 5.2 Options in the tools for composition and problem solving 5.3 Options in the scaffolds for practice and performance

Guideline 6: Provide options for executive functions 6.1 Options that guide effective goal-setting 6.2 Options that support planning and strategy development 6.3 Options that facilitate managing information and resources 6.4 Options that enhance capacity for monitoring progress

Strategic Networks

6.1 Options that guide effective goal-setting

When left on their own, most students – especially those who are immature or who have disabilities that affect executive function – set learning and performance goals for themselves that are inappropriate or unreachable. The most common remedy is to have adults set goals and objectives for them. That short-term remedy, however, does little to develop new skills or strategies in any student, and does even less to support students with executive function weaknesses. A UDL approach embeds graduated scaffolds for learning to set personal goals that are both challenging and realistic right in the curriculum

Strategic Networks

6.1 Options that guide effective goal-setting

Examples: Prompts and scaffolds to estimate effort, resources, and difficulty Models or examples of the process and product of goal-setting Guides and checklists for scaffolding goal-setting

Strategic Networks

6.2 Options that support planning and strategy development

Once a goal is set, effective learners and problem-solvers plan a strategy for reaching that goal. For young children in any domain, older students in a new domain, or any student with one of the disabilities that compromise executive functions (e.g. ADHD, ADD, Autism Spectrum Disorders), the strategic planning step is often omitted and impulsive trial and error trials take its place. To help students become more plan-full and strategic a variety of options – cognitive "speed bumps" that prompt them to "stop and think;" graduated scaffolds that help them actually implement strategies; engagement in decision-making with competent mentors – are needed.

Strategic Networks

6.2 Options that support planning and strategy development

Examples: Embedded prompts to "stop and think" before acting Checklists and project planning templates for setting up prioritization, sequences and schedules of steps Embedded coaches or mentors that model think-alouds of the process Guides for breaking long-term goals into reachable short-term objectives

Strategic Networks

6.3 Options that facilitate managing information and resources

One of the limits of executive function is that imposed by the limitations of so-called working memory. This "scratch pad" for maintaining chunks of information in immediate memory where they can be accessed as part of comprehension and problem-solving is very limited for any student and even more severely limited for many students with learning and cognitive disabilities. As a result, many such students seem disorganized, forgetful, unprepared. Wherever short-term memory capacity is not construct-relevant in a lesson, it is important to provide a variety of internal scaffolds and external organizational aids – exactly those kinds that executives use – to keep information organized and "in mind."

Strategic Networks

6.3 Options that facilitate managing information and resources

Examples: Graphic organizers and templates for data collection and organizing information Embedded prompts for categorizing and systematizing Checklists and guides for note-taking

Strategic Networks

6.4 Options that enhance capacity for monitoring progress

Many students seem relatively unresponsive to corrective feedback or knowledge of results. As a result they seem "perseverative," careless or unmotivated. For these students all of the time, and for most students some of the time, it is important to ensure that options can be customized to provide feedback that is more explicit, timely, informative, and accessible (see representational guidelines above and guidelines for affective feedback.). Especially important is providing "formative" feedback that allows students to monitor their own progress effectively and to use that information to guide their own effort and practice.

Strategic Networks

6.4 Options that enhance capacity for monitoring progress

Examples: Guided questions for self-monitoring Representations of progress (e.g. before and after photos, graphs and charts showing progress over time) Templates that guide self-reflection on quality and completeness Differentiated models of self-assessment strategies

Picasso The Early Years

1892 - 1906

Picasso — the early years, 1892-1906. M. McCully (Ed.). 1997. Washington,

DC: National Gallery of Art

Study of a Torso,

after a Plaster Cast

1893-1894

12 years old

Old Fisherman

1895

14 years old

Lola

1899

18 years old

Portrait of Joseph Cardona

1899

18 years old

Spanish Couple

Before an Inn

1900

19 years old

Bullfight

1900

19 years old

Moulin de la Galette

1900

19 years old

Montmartre Street Scene

1900

19 years old

Stuffed Shirts

1900

19 years old

Blue Roofs

1901

20 years old

On the Upper Deck

1901

20 years old

Still Life

1901

20 years old

Woman with Cape

1901

20 years old

Boulevard de Clichy

1901

20 years old

Fourteenth of July

1901

20 years old

Casagemas in Coffin

1901

20 years old

Head of the Dead Casagemas

1901

20 years old

Self Portrait

1901

20 years old

Sainte-Lazare Woman by Moonlight

1901

20 years old

Mother and Child by a Fountain

1901

20 years old

Affective Systems

Affective Networks

Limbic system movie

Amygdala moviehttp://dev.cast.org/castweb/imedia/upload/amygtrans%2Emov -

Bottom up influences on emotion a la Ledouxwww.cns.nyu.edu/home/ledoux/

When the cortex has received and processed a sensory stimulus indicating a reward, it sends a signal announcing this reward to a particular part of the midbrain–the ventral tegmental area (VTA)–whose activity then increases. The VTA then releases dopamine not only into the nucleus accumbens, but also into the septum, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex.

When the cortex has received and processed a sensory stimulus indicating a reward, it sends a signal announcing this reward to a particular part of the midbrain–the ventral tegmental area (VTA)–whose activity then increases. The VTA then releases dopamine not only into the nucleus accumbens, but also into the septum, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex.

The Affective McGurk Effect

2

3

4

Copyright ©2007 Society for Neuroscience

Johnstone, T. et al. J. Neurosci. 2007;27:8877-8884

Figure 1. Activation in IFG when downregulating emotional responses to negative pictures versus attending to negative pictures

Characterizing cognition in ADHD: beyond executive dysfunction F. Xavier Castellanosa, , Edmund J.S. Sonuga-Barkea, b, Michael P. Milhama and Rosemary Tannockc

Trends in Cognitive Sciences Volume 10, Issue 3 , March 2006, Pages 117-123

One of the most important conclusionsfrom research is that for childrenwith learning problems, learningis hard work. A corollary to this findingis that for their teachers, instructionis very hard work and requires anenormous amount of training and support.Children who have difficultylearning to read or completing mathematicsproblems will likely not benefitfrom “more of the same” but require analternative method of teaching to assisttheir learning.

Neuropsychological Aspects forEvaluating Learning DisabilitiesMargaret Semrud-ClikemanJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIESVOLUME 38, NUMBER 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005, PAGES 563–568

Given the findings fromthe neuroimaging and neuropsychologicalfields of deficient performanceon measures of working memory, processingspeed, auditory processingability, and executive functions, evaluationof these skills is necessary to determinethe most appropriate programto fit the individual child’s need. Thedanger with not paying attention to individualdifferences is that we willrepeat the current practice of simpleassessments in curricular materials toevaluate a complex learning processand to plan for interventions with childrenand adolescents with markedlydifferent needs and learning profiles.

Neuropsychological Aspects forEvaluating Learning DisabilitiesMargaret Semrud-ClikemanJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIESVOLUME 38, NUMBER 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005, PAGES 563–568

Working memoryThe relationship between working memory skills and performance on national curriculum assessments in English,

mathematics and science was explored in groups of children aged 7 and 14 years. At 7 years, children's levels of attainment in both English and mathematics were significantly associated with working memory scores, and in

particular with performance on complex span tasks. At 14 years, strong links persisted between the complex working memory test scores and attainments levels in both mathematics and science, although ability in the English

assessments showed no strong association with working memory skill. The results suggest that the intellectual operations required in the curriculum areas of mathematics and science are constrained by the general capacity of working memory across the childhood years. However, whereas success in the acquisition in literacy (tapped by the

English assessments at the youngest age) was also linked with working memory capacity, achievements in the higher-level skills of comprehension and analysis of English literature assessed at 14 years were independent of working

memory capacity. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Working memory skills and educational attainment: evidence from national curriculum assessments at 7 and 14 years of ageSusan E. Gathercole 1 *, Susan J.

Pickering 2, Camilla Knight 2, Zoe Stegmann 2

What to consider in any assessment…1) Representation

Perceptual

Vision

Hearing

Language and Symbols

Decoding

Vocabulary

English

Language

Cognitive

Background knowledge

Critical Features

Information Processing

Memory and Transfer

Construct Construct Relevant Irrelevant

What to consider in any assessment…2) Expression

Physical Action

Response mode

Navigation

Expressive skills and fluency

Use of specific medium

Use of specific tools

Use of scaffolds

Executive

Goal setting

Planning and strategizing

Managing resources

Monitoring progress

Construct Construct Relevant Irrelevant

What to consider in any assessment…3) Affect

Recruiting interest

choice

relevance

threats and distractions

Sustaining effort

maintaining salience of goal

level of challenge

collaboration

mastery-oriented feedback

Self-Regulation

setting own goals

coping skills

self assessment/reflection

Construct Construct Relevant Irrelevant

Zoom In: Additional KSAsAdditional KSAs Description Construct

Relevant?

Perceptual Processing Visual ability , Visual Discrimination, Visual Acuity, Color perception

Yes No

Motoric Processing Object manipulation, Strength and mobility, Navigation abilities, Automaticity, Production dexterity

Yes No

Linguistic Processing English proficiency, Decoding and fluency, Vocabulary knowledge, Syntactic skillsKnowledge of text structures

Yes No

Cognitive Processing Background knowledge, Comprehension strategies, Categorical/conceptual skills, Interaction strategies, Planning and organizing, Concentration, Medium familiarity, Writing fluency

Yes No

Executive Processing Goal setting, Goal maintenance and adjustment, Progress monitoring, Working memory Yes No

Affective Processing Self-regulation, Intrinsic task specific motivation, Extrinsic incentives, Test conditions Yes No