The Building Blocks of Brain Development

The Key to Understanding Executive Function

CLE Credits pending and Ethics Credits anticipated

Participants will learn about brain development, what disruption may occur, and how to address the issues.

Executive functions are a collection of brain processes that are responsible for planning, abstract thinking, rule acquisition, initiating appropriate actions and inhibiting inappropriate actions, and selecting relevant sensory information. Executive Functions of the brain are foundational and have a global impact upon our ability to understand and respond to our surroundings.

Why Understanding Brain Development and Executive Functioning is important in criminal justice and child welfare:
Criminal Justice:

• While people with intellectual disability comprise 2% to 3% of the general population, they represent 4% to 10% of the prison population, with an even greater number of those in juvenile facilities and in jails (Petersilia, 2000).
• “A study by Dr. Ann Streissguth (2004) found that as many as 60% of individuals living with FASD come into contact with the law and 35% experience incarceration”
• 85% of youth in juvenile detention facilities have special education qualifying disabilities (National Council on Disability, 2011).
• 10% among adult prisoners for FASD with another 18% of prisoners exhibiting cognitive and neurological symptoms that may be indicative of FASD (MacPherson and Chudley, 2007)

Child Welfare:
“one-third of children in [child welfare] care fall within a broad definition of disability and that 17 percent of children in care were affected by diagnosed or suspected Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)” (Fuchs et al., 2009).

If you are planning to attend with multiple people, please have each person fill out the registration form below