Broadening the Occupational Therapy Toolkit: An Executive Functioning Lens for Occupational Therapy With Children and Youth

Abstract

Occupational therapists working with children and youth need an occupational EF framework and practice resources if they are to integrate an EF lens to more broadly enable occupational performance.

Daily Performance of Adolescents with Executive Function Deficits: An Empirical Study Using a Complex-Cooking Task

“…The EF components integrate to allow people to perform complex, novel, and dynamic occupations successfully [7]. When EF develop normally, behavior is adapted according to the changing environments.…”

Conceptualisation and use of executive functions in paediatrics: A scoping review of occupational therapy literature

“…A number of articles recently explored different aspects of EFs in occupational therapy (Cramm, Krupa, Missiuna, Lysaght & Parker, ,b; Wallisch et al ., ). The first article reviewed the occupational therapy literature about EFs in populations of all ages and described various EF definitions that highlight the influence of EFs on participation and performance in daily life.…”

“…The first article reviewed the occupational therapy literature about EFs in populations of all ages and described various EF definitions that highlight the influence of EFs on participation and performance in daily life. The paper emphasised the importance for occupational therapists to recognise EF deficits in occupational performance and highlighted the paucity of having one acceptable definition (Cramm et al .). The second article by Cramm et al . qualitatively explored occupational therapists' perceptions of how EFs are addressed among children and youth.…”

The expanding relevance of executive functioning in occupational therapy: Is it on your radar?

“…Practitioners need support in shifting their perspective on both executive functioning and occupation-and performance-based assessments-to 'remove his or her old bottom-up lens and instead utilise an occupational lens' (Fisher, 2013). Even when keen to do so, practitioners may also face system barriers that favour standard practice over new approaches (Cramm et al, 2013a).…”

“…Knowledge acquisition concerning executive functioning, associations with mental health and specific conditions, and typical and atypical developmental trajectories of executive functioning may be sufficient to lay the cognitive infrastructure for student occupational therapists globally. Continuing education opportunities developed by and for occupational therapists are critical to support interested practitioners struggling to make the shift, but unable to find such resources within the profession (Cramm et al, 2013a).…”