About the Book
This groundbreaking volume, now revised and updated, has given thousands of educators and clinicians a deeper understanding of executive function (EF) processes in typically developing children and those with learning difficulties and developmental disabilities. The book elucidates how PreK-12 students develop such key capacities as goal setting, organization, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and self-monitoring. Leading experts in education, neuroscience, and psychology explore the links between EF and academic performance and present practical applications for assessment and instruction. Exemplary practices for supporting students with EF difficulties in particular content areas--reading, writing, and math--are reviewed.
New to This Edition
*Updated throughout with a decade's worth of significant advances in research, theory, and educational best practices.
*Chapter on early childhood.
*Chapter on embedding EF strategies in the curriculum
*Expanded coverage of reading--chapters on recent fMRI research findings; working memory and reading; and self-regulation and reading comprehension.
See also Meltzer's authored book Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom, which provides easy-to-implement assessment tools, teaching techniques and activities, and planning aids.
Table of Contents:
I. Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks
1. Executive Function: Binding Together the Definitions of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disabilities, Martha Bridge Denckla & E. Mark Mahone
2. Hill, Skill, and Will: Executive Function from a Multiple Intelligences Perspective,
Seana Moran & Howard Gardner
3. Executive Capacities from a Developmental Perspective, Jane Holmes Bernstein & Deborah P. Waber
4. The Development of Hot and Cool Executive Function: A Foundation for Learning in the Preschool Years, Andrei D. Semenov & Philip David Zelazo
II. Executive Function in Different Diagnostic Groups: Challenges of Identification and Treatment
5. Executive Function Difficulties and Learning Differences: Assessment for Teaching, Lynn Meltzer, Julie Dunstan-Brewer, & Kalyani Krishnan
6. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities and Executive Function: The Challenges of Effective Assessment and Teaching, Judith A. Stein & Kalyani Krishnan
7. Executive Function in Autism Spectrum Disorder: From Research to Practice, Meghan Miller, Patricia L. Schetter, & Sally Ozonoff
III. Executive Function Processes in Reading and Other Content Areas
A: Reading: Current Findings and Interventions
8. Executive Function and Reading Difficulties: A Tale of Complexity in Diagnosis and Treatment, Jonathan D. Scheff, Neena M. Hudson, Mary Tarsha, & Laurie E. Cutting
9. Working Memory and Reading: Is there Evidence for an Executive Processing Deficit?, H. Lee Swanson & Jennifer E. Kong
10. Self-Regulation and Reading Comprehension: Self-Perceptions, Self-Evaluations, and Effective Strategies for Intervention, Tami Katzir, Vered Markovich, Einat Tesler, & Michal Shany
B. Interventions across the Content Areas
11. Creating Strategic Classrooms and Schools: Embedding Executive Function Strategies in the Curriculum, Lynn Meltzer
12. The Strategic Math Classroom: How Executive Function Impacts Math Learning, Joan Steinberg & Bethany Roditi
13. Self-Regulated Strategy Development in Writing: A Classroom Example of Developing Executive Function Processes and Future Directions, Karen R. Harris, Steve Graham, Linda Mason, Debra McKeown, & Natalie Olinghouse
14. Optimizing Executive Function in the Digital World: Advances in Universal Design for Learning, Samantha G. Daley & David H. Rose
Index
About the Author :
Lynn Meltzer, PhD, is President and Director of the Institutes for Learning and Development (ResearchILD and ILD) in Lexington, Massachusetts. She is also an Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Fellow and past president of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. For 29 years, she was Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University. Dr. Meltzer is founder and chair of the International Learning Differences Conference, which was established in 1984 and is held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her 40 years of neuropsychological evaluations and clinical consultations with children, adolescents, and adults have emphasized the theory-to-practice cycle of knowledge. She has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences, including that of the International Association for Cognitive Education in Southern Africa. She is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Council for Learning Disabilities. Among Dr. Meltzer's extensive publications and presentations are the books Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom, The Power of Peers in the Classroom (coedited with Karen R. Harris), and Executive Function in Education, Second Edition. Together with her ResearchILD colleagues, she developed SMARTS Online, an evidence-based executive function and peer mentoring/coaching curriculum for middle and high school students (www.smarts-ef.org).
Review :
"Meltzer--a pioneering, visionary researcher--is joined by a who’s who of EF experts in this second edition, which includes valuable updates and new chapters. Graduate students and experienced educators will benefit equally from the breath and scope of this book. If you were going to purchase only one volume on the topic of EF in education, it should be this second edition."--Sam Goldstein, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine; Clinical Director, Neurology, Learning, and Behavior Center
"Although the term 'executive function' is now widely used, there is still considerable confusion about its meaning and practical implications. In this outstanding second edition of Executive Function in Education, Meltzer has brought together important theories and recent research. Intervention-focused chapters offer helpful guidance on how EF knowledge can inform more effective instructional strategies in reading, writing, and math."--Thomas E. Brown, PhD, private practice, Manhattan Beach, California; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
"The second edition of this indispensable volume is replete with practical guidance and current evidence-based best practices to assist educators in improving students’ abilities to manage time, monitor behavior, and employ strategies to help with organization and planning. The book presents various theoretical perspectives and explores how EF is related to cognitive abilities such as working memory and processing speed, as well as the impact of EF processes on reading, writing, and math development. Contributors provide up-to-date guidance on how to adapt instruction, improve self-regulation skills, and incorporate new digital tools to promote success in school and beyond."--Nancy Mather, PhD, Department of Psychoeducational Studies, University of Arizona
"The book clearly describes the sometimes confusing theories of EF and the recent research that supports them. Contributors present practical strategies for improving EF grounded in these theoretical constructs. This book is a 'must have' for professionals who evaluate, treat, and teach students with varying learning needs, as well as those in training. The volume offers real-life illustrations of the daily EF challenges that students experience and provides explicit examples of classroom strategies that are easily incorporated into lesson plans."--Eric Q. Tridas, MD, developmental pediatrician, Tridas Center for Child Development, Tampa, Florida -Provides educational stakeholders with advanced and comprehensive information describing the biological and environmental underpinnings for executive function abilities and difficulties….In addition to intervention considerations embedded within each chapter, the book concludes with a focus on specific, practical, and manageable school-based interventions. Overall, Meltzer did an excellent job balancing theoretical knowledge and practical recommendations….This book is recommended to school psychologists and educators alike who seek to gain a deeper understanding of various executive function processes and an increased ability in addressing such demands.--NASP Communiqué, 5/1/2019
"Meltzer--a pioneering, visionary researcher--is joined by a who’s who of EF experts in this second edition, which includes valuable updates and new chapters. Graduate students and experienced educators will benefit equally from the breath and scope of this book. If you were going to purchase only one volume on the topic of EF in education, it should be this second edition."--Sam Goldstein, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine; Clinical Director, Neurology, Learning, and Behavior Center
"Although the term 'executive function' is now widely used, there is still considerable confusion about its meaning and practical implications. In this outstanding second edition of Executive Function in Education, Meltzer has brought together important theories and recent research. Intervention-focused chapters offer helpful guidance on how EF knowledge can inform more effective instructional strategies in reading, writing, and math."--Thomas E. Brown, PhD, private practice, Manhattan Beach, California; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
"The second edition of this indispensable volume is replete with practical guidance and current evidence-based best practices to assist educators in improving students’ abilities to manage time, monitor behavior, and employ strategies to help with organization and planning. The book presents various theoretical perspectives and explores how EF is related to cognitive abilities such as working memory and processing speed, as well as the impact of EF processes on reading, writing, and math development. Contributors provide up-to-date guidance on how to adapt instruction, improve self-regulation skills, and incorporate new digital tools to promote success in school and beyond."--Nancy Mather, PhD, Department of Psychoeducational Studies, University of Arizona
"The book clearly describes the sometimes confusing theories of EF and the recent research that supports them. Contributors present practical strategies for improving EF grounded in these theoretical constructs. This book is a 'must have' for professionals who evaluate, treat, and teach students with varying learning needs, as well as those in training. The volume offers real-life illustrations of the daily EF challenges that students experience and provides explicit examples of classroom strategies that are easily incorporated into lesson plans."--Eric Q. Tridas, MD, developmental pediatrician, Tridas Center for Child Development, Tampa, Florida -Provides educational stakeholders with advanced and comprehensive information describing the biological and environmental underpinnings for executive function abilities and difficulties….In addition to intervention considerations embedded within each chapter, the book concludes with a focus on specific, practical, and manageable school-based interventions. Overall, Meltzer did an excellent job balancing theoretical knowledge and practical recommendations….This book is recommended to school psychologists and educators alike who seek to gain a deeper understanding of various executive function processes and an increased ability in addressing such demands.--NASP Communiqué, 5/1/2019
