Fusion Academy on Executive Functioning

It’s not easy being a kid, and it’s even harder being a parent. Which is why Fusion Academy tackles topics of interest to parents to help them understand and deal with the pains and issues of kids growing up.

In the second leg of its popular Speaker Series, Fusion Academy looks to answer the question: Executive Functioning, or: Why can’t my kid find that homework?

Featured speaker Stephanie Berlanga, a Fusion Pasadena Education Specialist with ADHD and executive functioning disorder, knows these problems all too well and brings special insight and creative solutions to the issues that many teens face.

“The Speaker Series is something that we do to inform parents and give them some ideas, strategies and insight into their students, whether it’s issues with learning, issues with stress,” says Berlanga, “it’s an opportunity to give parents some support and also to introduce them to the Fusion campus.”

Berlanga has “been working with students that have learning differences for about 10 years,” she says. Starting out with the reading program Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, Berlanga soon became a summer tutor and substitute teacher. Though she was trying to start a career in acting and performing, Berlanga eventually realized that “working with students that have learning differences was something I was really good at.”

Berlanga attributes her special talents to having a sibling “who is severely mentally and physically disabled. So it seemed like I have a natural skill in working with students that needed more support,” she says.

Having teaching credentials as a special education teacher helps too.

For the Speaker Series, Berlanga will be talking about Executive Functioning Disorder. “Executive Functioning is our ability to plan, organize, prioritize, to sequence things step by step. I myself have a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder and Executive Functioning Disorder which means things are generally more difficult for me to organize, prioritize, sequence. It’s kind of like the absent-minded professor,” Berlanga explains.

But just because someone is diagnosed with executive functioning disorder, it does not mean that person isn’t intelligent. “I’m a bright person. I’m very knowledgeable. I’m educated, but for the life of me, I will lose my car keys 15 times a day,” says Berlanga.

To further explain the condition, Berlanga continues, “Somebody that has an Executive Functioning Disorder generally has a tough time saying, ‘Well, I’m at work but my priority right now is to pay my electric bill because it’s going to get shut off.’ So it’s learning how to keep those things separate and balanced. It takes some skills and some strategies to manage life in school and learning if you have difficulty with Executive Functioning.”

Attending the talk is not limited to parents of kids, or students, with Executive Functioning Disorder though, Berlanga says, “a student doesn’t necessarily have to have an Executive Functioning Disorder to benefit from strategies of organization. It’s something that we can all benefit from. So it’s geared to parents [with a child or] student that has a learning disability, a learning difference, anybody can benefit from learning how to color code their notebook.”

Fusion Academy’s Open House and Speaker Series will be held on Tuesday, August 20 at Fusion Academy Pasadena, 825 Colorado Blvd., Suite 118, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Because space is limited, please RSVP at http://www.fusionpasadena.com.

To learn more about Fusion Academy and how it can help you, visit our website, call (323) 258-2012, or contact Candace Siegle @ csiegle@fusionacademy.com