Academic Programs: Points of Entry: Executive Function Curriculum

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The Executive Function curriculum or Bridge Semester is for transfer students who enter the College with the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills necessary to fully participate in the credit-level curriculum, while also focusing on their academic difficulties with executive functions.

Students who place into Landmark’s EF curriculum enroll in three required courses that address their executive functioning needs: English Composition: AD/HD Theory and Practice in the English department, Perspectives in Learning in the First Studies department, and the one-credit Group Advising class to learn about the nature of AD/HD executive functioning learning difficulties and the strategies needed to address these difficulties.

Bridge Semester

Landmark’s Bridge Semester provides short-term, intensive support to college students who are struggling in their studies. Participants receive the tailored instruction they need to successfully return to their home college or university. At Landmark, we know that it is easy for a student who learns differently to become overwhelmed by the demands of college course work. Warning signs often include:

  • Poor grades,
  • Difficulty keeping pace with reading assignments,
  • Submitting papers past deadlines,
  • Difficulty managing and organizing course work, and
  • Trouble managing multi-step processes such as research papers.

Proven Strategies for Improving Executive Function

The Executive Function Curriculum (Bridge Semester) incorporates practices designed to improve executive functions that impact the ability to complete work, remain organized, and manage time. Some students with diagnosed learning difficulties such as AD/HD do not experience difficulty with reading or fluency. Instead, they struggle with distractibility and disorganization related to time and materials. However, when these students are interested in the material, they work at very high levels.

The Bridge Semester helps students:

  • Better understand their learning style;
  • Become more productive, particularly in writing;
  • Develop their self-advocacy skills and learn how to make better use of campus resources;
  • Become more skilled in juggling demanding college courses; and
  • Return to their college with new skill sets and enhanced self-understanding.

The Curriculum

Bridge Semester students enroll in both core and elective courses.

Core Courses

These placements assume that students have relatively strong academic skills and primarily need support in Executive Function.

  • Perspectives in Learning (FY1011): This course develops study skills in conjunction with learning more about the brain, behavior, and cognition. Students learn more about the concept of executive function and the critical role it plays in memory and learning. Recent research has shown that many people diagnosed with learning disabilities and/or AD/HD may have challenges in this area. Students will also learn about the legal environment related to learning disabilities to develop their self-advocacy skills.
  • College-Level Writing (either EN 1011 or 1015) helps students with challenges related to reading comprehension and/or writing production. Because of the varied learning profiles of Bridge students, this course is offered with two different areas of focus.
  • EN 1011 Composition and Rhetoric provides reading, writing, and critical thinking skill development at the credit level for students who need additional work to perform successfully in other college-level courses.
  • En 1015 Composition: AD/HD Theory and Practice: is a more specialized course designed for students in Bridge students who have successfully completed a college composition course or its equivalent at an accredited college, have a diagnosis of AD/HD, and experience their greatest learning challenges around areas of writing production, time management, and organization.

Academic Electives

Bridge students select from elective courses offered by the Academic Departments at Landmark College. All Landmark courses incorporate an understanding of learning disabilities and Executive Function into their course design.

Advising

All visiting students are assigned an academic advisor they meet with on a weekly basis. The academic advisor provides support around issues of time management, organization, and work completion. Some visiting students may also participate in a one-credit group advising seminar, depending on their placement.

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