Executive Dis-function Junction
Difficulty starting projects/assignments without prompts reflects challenges in this skill.
What is task initiation?
This neurotransmitter is central to motivation, reward prediction, and task initiation and is often dysregulated in ADHD, contributing to difficulty starting or sustaining tasks.
What is dopamine?
A neurodevelopmental condition in youth often presenting as emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and executive functioning challenges.
What is Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
This TBRI principle may increase a caregiver’s attunement to a neurodivergent youth, allowing them to better accommodate their unique sensory profile.
What is the empowering principle?
Hand flapping, rocking, pacing, spinning, humming/singing, repeating words/phrases, tapping objects, biting nails, or staring at spinning objects to manage sensory overload, anxiety, or excitement are examples of this regulatory strategy.
What is stimming (self-stimulatory behavior)?
Youth struggling with transitioning between school, home, and other settings often have difficulty with this skill.
What is cognitive flexibility?
This branch of the autonomic nervous system promotes safety, digestion, and social engagement and is often the target of regulation-based interventions and accommodations.
What is the parasympathetic nervous system? ( will also accept ventral vagal or social engagement)
A neurotype involving differences in social communication, sensory processing, and play or interests.
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?
Providing written directions in addition to verbal instructions supports youth who experience challenges with this type of information processing.
What is auditory processing?
Difficulty tolerating noise, clothing textures, or transitions may reflect differences in this cognitive mechanism.
What is sensory processing?
Planning backwards from due dates, estimating duration of tasks, and monitoring deadlines relies on this executive skill.
What is time management? (also accept organization)
This brain structure evaluates threat and emotional salience and may be more reactive in individuals with trauma histories or heightened sensory sensitivities (including ASD and ADHD).
What is the amygdala?
This neurodevelopmental disorder involves persistent difficulties in learning and may affect reading and phonological processing (dyslexia), written expression (dysgraphia), or mathematics (dyscalculia) that may impact academic self-esteem.
What is specific learning disorder(s)?
This intervention breaks tasks into smaller steps, uses visual aids, or provides prompts that are gradually removed as youth gain mastery over a new skill.
What is scaffolding?
Seeking movement, pressure, or crashing behaviors may support regulation through this system.
What is proprioception?
Difficulties following multi-step instructions or saying “I forgot” frequently may indicate challenges in this cognitive system.
What is working memory?
This term, coined by Dr. William Dodson, theorizes that ADHD brains struggle with routine tasks but excel in high-stimulation, engaging activities due to differences in neurotransmitter regulation, not lack of willpower. HINT: Acronym is IBNS
What is an Interest-Based Nervous System?
Although not currently recognized as a standalone diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR, this condition is associated with prolonged or repeated exposure to chronic, long-term, or repeated trauma and is linked to lasting changes in brain regions responsible for emotional regulation, executive functioning, personality development, and social behavior.
What is complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD)
Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, this document provides accommodations to students with disabilities and ensures equal access to learning in regular classrooms by removing barriers through tailored support.
What is a 504 Plan?
This internal sensory system helps people recognize hunger, thirst, and toileting cues and is often impaired in people with neurodiverse identities.
What is interoception?
The I in the PINCH framework, used to support neurodivergent individuals increase motivation, involves making an activity personally meaningful or aligned with someone’s passions. Bonus points if you can name all 5 terms in PINCH.
What is Interest? PINCH = Play, Interest, Novelty/new, Competition/challenge, and Hurry-up
This neurocognitive phenomenon, involving severe difficulty identifying, understanding, describing, and processing emotions often occurs in those with autism and ADHD, as well as those who have experienced trauma.
What is alexithymia?
This condition involves difficulty with fine and gross motor planning and coordination, sometimes mistaken for oppositional behavior.
What is dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder)?
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. This acronym refers to an organization that provides solutions and adaptations for employment-related tasks, organized by disability, limitation, or work-related function.
What is JAN (Job Accommodation Network)?
This sensory system, coined by Stephen Porges, involves the subconscious detection of safety or threat in the environment and can be put into “high alert” in those who’ve experienced trauma.
What is neuroception?