Page 6 - New Year Refresher 2021

KEY MESSAGE 8: Some children’s Executive Function Skills are weaker

than other people of their age.

This can be down to different reasons:

▪ Difficult past experiences mean their neural circuitry didn’t build as strongly

▪ Current difficult experiences mean high levels of stress prevent the part of the
brain in control of these skills (pre-frontal cortex) from being fully activated.
▪ A neurodiverse profile (which may just be how they were born):

KEY MESSAGES 9: Previous experiences make a big difference to how well
some young people can manage stressors:

Our Runway Model helps children (and adults) understand:

▪ How their history of stressors / wider stressors / immediate stressors and supports has

affected the flight of their aeroplane from the very start
▪ How well the plane flies each day (how turbulent the air is around it) i.e. the current
supports and stressors in their life at home and at school.
▪ What makes a difference in specific situations (who and what is in their cockpit).

social and anti
o do e kno hat cu s to fill and hat skills to build hen e loring incidents of anti
learning behaviour in order to ork out the best su orts, strategies and skill building foci for a young erson, e
need to consider three different levels
. istorical su orts stressors

. ider su orts stressors

. mmediate u orts tressors

o turbulent is the sky around the aircraft

o smooth has the run ay of lifebeen so far

hat as going on in the cock it