May 5, 2026
Plan Do Review
Promote Executive Function
This week I introduced Plan Do Review, a strategy I learned while training in graduate school at an adult rehab hospital. Plan Do Review addresses executive function (a set of skills that helps our brains to initiate, inhibit, demonstrate flexibility and learn to organize). A child has the ability to choose a goal, develop a plan, execute the plan, and then reflect on how he or she did.
I introduced Plan Do Review with a set of 5 year old twins whose mother had concerns about their readiness for kindergarten in the fall. We started our session with the “planning” phase: drawing boxes to create a checklist. I shared what the tasks were for the session and they selected the order. For example, working on “S”, “R”, and rhyming skills. Then with the use of a visual timer, they chose how much time to spend on each task. The planning stage gave my little friends autonomy in making decisions within the structure provided.
During the “doing” phase, when each task was completed, they either put a check mark, X, or cross it out. The visual timer signaled the completion of the task and they moved to the next item on the list. Lastly, after the tasks were completed, “reviewing” how they did gave them the opportunity to reflect on how they did and felt during each task. I was so happy with how they did! This will be my new structure moving forward. Additional school aged friends experienced Plan Do Review this week. One parent took the strategy and applied it to other school related activities and reported much success.
Let’s help our children become master planners while building foundational executive functioning skills!