How Our Executive Function Training Helps Students with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is often associated with having trouble reading, but it can also impact executive functioning. People with dyslexia may have trouble synthesizing information, prioritizing tasks, maintaining their attention, and taking on increasing responsibilities. 

Studies have shown a strong connection between dyslexia symptoms and issues with short-term memory and executive functioning skills like inhibition, task shifting, and working memory.

For students, these underdeveloped executive function skills can lead to problems in school. Dyslexia can make it challenging for students to complete their homework and projects, learn new subjects, and take notes.

Our team of expert neurologists at Abbey Neurodynamic Center understands how much dyslexia can affect a student’s school experience, and we offer solutions to help. With executive function training, we can help your child strengthen their cognitive and focusing skills so they can succeed in school. 

Executive function and dyslexia  

If your child has dyslexia, you know the impact it has on their learning. They may avoid doing homework, fail to get their assignments done, and have trouble in the classroom. 

This often stems from their inability to complete written work or synthesize information, but it may also be due to a lack of self-esteem or embarrassment from not being able to stay on track or complete tasks. 

People with dyslexia often need more time to complete assignments and a different way to approach tasks. And what works for one student with dyslexia may not work for another. 

You may not notice your child struggling at a young age, but as they advance in school, a deficit in executive function skills may become more apparent. As your children move into middle school and beyond, they’re expected to take on an increased workload, synthesize more information, and set and complete goals on their own. 

It can be frustrating for both you and your child when dyslexia negatively impacts their success at school. But with executive function training, we can help them develop important cognitive skills so that schoolbecomes a more rewarding experience.

What is executive function training?

Our specialists can help students from elementary school through college improve their ability to learn and enhance their overall brain function. 

Through executive function training, your child can improve their ability to pay attention, process information, and prioritize tasks. They can even improve their reading comprehension and writing skills.

For many students with dyslexia, even beginning an assignment is often a challenge. With executive function training, we can help your child learn to break down an assignment into smaller tasks that are more manageable and tackle them in a way that makes sense to them.

Through activities like reading comprehension, board games, music, and puzzles, your child can retrain their brain to increase vital executive function skills. 

Individualized training plan 

Before getting started with executive function training, we complete a thorough assessment to get an idea of your child’s baseline learning ability and behavioral patterns. Based on our findings, we put together a structured training plan that targets the behaviors and skills you want your child to improve. 

Your child’s personalized executive function training may include:

• Enhancing verbal expression
• Improving planning and organization 
• Training for working memory and processing speed
• Improving visual-spatial skills
• Improving focus

We use a systematic approach that adapts to your child’s specific learning needs. We keep executive function training fun and engaging while enhancing academic capabilities.

Our team aims to empower students to become confident in their problem-solving and decision-making skills so they’re successful in school and in future endeavors.

Dyslexia doesn’t have to keep your child from thriving in school. We can help students of any age gain the tools they need for success. To find out more about our executive function training, call our office in Palo Alto, California at 650-210-7922, or send us a message online today.