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Ms. Ward’s “mental spatial time travel” can also be helpful in getting your child to organize and clean his/her room especially if your child has difficulty getting this done. One technique she mentioned was taking a picture of your child’s room after it has been cleaned and organized. You and your child can then sit down and study the picture of the clean and orderly room (see how the toys are arranged on the shelves, the clothes are folded and piled neatly in the cabinet and the bed sheets neatly covering the bed). Your child can then work on portions of the room and clean/organize it so that it looks the same way as the picture (either by copying the picture or doing it from memory). The picture helps the child to pre-imagine how the shelf (or cabinet etc.) will look like after he/s he fixes it

According to Ms. Ward, “90% of the time, we pre-imagine our plan, so that the minute we get into that space…we just think about carrying out the plan”. This technique to improve organization skills is certainly worth trying on your child!

I attended The Executive Function Online Summit organized and run by Seth Perler and it was very interesting and helpful. Most of the speakers spoke about strategies to improve executive function in children and adolescents. One speaker, Ms. Sarah Ward, had an interesting view about executive functioning. According to her, “the heart of executive function is this ability to pre-imagine and literally see yourself moving through space and time to achieve a goal…”

For instance time management involved “mental spatial time travel” the capacity to envision yourself going from point A to point B to point C. For example, budgeting your time between doing a math assignment, walking the dog, washing and cutting vegetables which mom will cook later and finishing one-hour online lecture for history – all to be done in 2 hours.

Using mental spatial time travel the student imagines her/himself going from point A (doing the math assignment) to point B (finishing the 1-hour online lecture for history) to point C (walking the dog) to point D (preparing the vegetables for mom). Visualizing (or pre-imagining) what he/she will be doing may make him/her realize that there is not enough time to do all these. The student can then revise his/her plans so that he accomplishes most, if not all, of his/her goals within the time he has (either do things faster or eliminate one activity & schedule it for another day).

The last article featured four of the skills that form part of Executive Functioning. The remaining equally important skills are the following:

1. Self-Monitoring – the ability to monitor one’s behavior and to modify it in response to demands in the environment or situation;
2. Planning and Prioritizing – the ability to make a plan and to know what needs to be done first;
3. Task Initiation – the ability to start on an assignment or task without need for reminders;
4. Organization of materials/environment – the ability to keep order in one’s surroundings and to keep track of belongings.

(list of skills taken from www.pinterest.com, definitions are my own)

It is easy to see how having problems in one or more of these skill areas impact negatively on a person’s ability to carry out tasks and accomplish them on time. As well, having problems in self-monitoring, flexible thinking and emotional control can result in problems in the establishment and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. Being familiar with these concepts can help us, as therapists, understand our clients’ problems better and address them more effectively!

Executive functioning (EF) is a set of skills that enables a person to plan, organize and carry out actions to achieve what he/she has set out to do for that day. It involves problem solving, the ability to think flexibly and consider alternatives, self-monitor and use feedback to respond to shifting demands in the situation. Four Executive function skills are listed below:

1. Impulse control – the ability to inhibit behavior that potentially gets us into trouble;
2. Emotional Control – the ability to manage one’s emotions and keep them under control when faced with challenging situations;
3. Flexible Thinking – the ability to consider alternatives and different perspectives;
4. Working Memory – the ability to keep information in one’s mind while working on it (e.g. multi-step instructions, calling a phone number).

(list of skills taken from www.pinterest.com, definitions are my own)

The next four skills under executive functioning will be featured in my next article.

The other last kind of Dementia is Frontotemporal dementia. This is when the frontal and temporal areas of the brain are compromised due to progressive loss of nerve cells which result in marked changes in behavior and personality.

It’s symptoms include behavioral changes (such as change in personality, lack of inhibition or social tact, unusual or antisocial behavior), language problems (such as difficulty naming objects, difficulty writing and reading) as well as problems in memory and ability to carry out everyday tasks (executive functions). Source: Ucsfhealth.org

Dementia, as “a syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to perform everyday activities”.

In my work at the center, the family of one patient I tested reported the tactless and inappropriate social behavior of the client. The patient would talk to any stranger and ask personal information. He reportedly voided anywhere outside of a toilet even when one was present. When I was working with him, he repeatedly asked personal questions (e.g. how many children do you have?) that were not appropriate to the situation and spoke quite loudly.

Thus, there are 3 kinds of dementia aside from Alzheimer’s, these being Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Frontotemporal Dementia. Being familiar with their symptoms will help us recognize or suspect existence of the condition in people we know so that we can seek the right professional for help (a neurologist especially one with training in dementia).