Table 2.
Association of SCI-A curricular units and executive functions.
| SCI-A unit | Curricular content | Executive function∗ |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Recognizing facial expressions | Visual recognition of key facial features Displaying facial expressions Strategies for scanning facial features to read emotions |
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| (2) Sharing ideas | Speaker skills: gaining attention, staying on topic, sharing the main idea, appropriate eye contact/body proximity/volume Listener skills: appropriate eye contact/body proximity |
Working Memory: staying on topic Inhibitory Control: sharing only the main idea/not sharing irrelevant information; avoiding interrupting others |
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| (3) Turn taking in conversation | Conversational reciprocity Using questions and comments Transitioning in/out of conversations |
Inhibitory Control: avoid interrupting others Working Memory: staying on topic, building off another person's comments Cognitive Flexibility: switching/transitioning topics |
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| ||
| (4) Feelings and emotions | Understand emotional range/variance/intensity Self-control and emotion regulation Using context to understand others' emotions/perspective taking |
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| (5) Problem solving | Identify components of problems (who, what) Generate and evaluate possible solutions Collaborate with others to solve problems |
Inhibitory Control: use appropriate conversational skills to collaborate Working Memory: holding the ideas of others to collaborative problem solving Cognitive Flexibility: generate alternate solutions |
∗Consistent with EF being only one of several interrelated constructs that contribute to social competence, the content in any given unit involves a combination of EF and other processes (e.g., social reciprocity, and pragmatic language).