Sarah Ward and Dr. Jessica Minahan

What’s the relationship between executive function and anxiety? Two distinguished experts, Sarah Ward and Jessica Minahan, are coming together to discuss executive function and anxiety and offer practical tips for improving student success across the board.

They will combine their expertise to help participants learn the best ways to build skills that reduce anxiety and improve executive functioning, self-monitoring and task initiation. Caregivers will gain valuable insights and ready-to-use strategies that can be implemented immediately.

• Reduce Anxiety: Understand how to recognize and address anxiety and  create a more supportive home environment for all students.

• Executive Functioning Skills: Discover methods to help students improve organization, time management, and task initiation and completion.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 31.9% of adolescents aged 13–18 in the United States have an anxiety disorder. Overworked and overwhelmed teens and adults need a new approach and easy-to-implement tools and strategies.

Negative, inaccurate and overwhelming thoughts can contribute to disengagement and withdrawal. Traditional suggestions such as creating incentives, offering breaks or using a graphic organizer or checklists will not help a student initiate an activity. Rather, practical strategies that specifically target improvement in accurate perception, self-monitoring and self-regulation are essential. GPS brings you a way to teach these skills without causing student dependence!

Sarah Ward, MS CCC-SLP has over 25 years of experience in the assessment and treatment of executive function skills. A recognized authority on executive function skills, she has conducted numerous presentations at international and national conferences and has consulted with over 1400 schools on the strategies she has developed.  Her 360 Thinking Executive Function Program received the Innovative Promising Practices Award from the National Organization CHADD.

Jessica Minahan, MEd, BCBA, is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst, special educator, as well as a consultant to schools internationally. Jessica has over seventeen years of experience supporting students in urban public-school systems who exhibit challenging behavior. She is the co-author of “The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students” and author of “The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors.”