Team Kenya

Alisha’s Programme Kenya Team.

Start Date: October 2019 Programme Coordinator: Mr. Daniel

Review Date: December 2019 Occupational therapist: Ms. Fridah
Principle skill: Cognitive Skills Lead caregiver: Ms. Beatrice
Sub-skill Sub-skill Definition Objectives
Sustained Attention This is the child’s basic ability to look at, listen to and think By the end of 3 months; Alisha should be able to attend to an
about tasks over a period of time. All teaching and learning activity for at least 30 minutes in a single sitting.
depends on it. Without attention, new learning simply does
not happen, and issues of understanding and memory are of
no relevance. (Task analysis is key here, with smooth and continuous
presentation)

Response Inhibition It refers to the ability to inhibit one’s own response to
distractions. For example, if two children are paying close
attention to a lesson, and suddenly there is noise in the
room/outside. The child who maintains attention has better
response inhibition (field independence)
Speed of Information This explains how quickly a learner can process incoming
Processing information. It is largely considered as a central aspect of
IQ. It’s worth noting that many children with attention
problems often are unable to keep up with the lesson as
presented by the teacher.
Alisha’s Cognitive Skills Programme, October – December 2019
By the end of 3 months; Alisha should be able to present good
level sensory gating, and constructive selective attention skills
during activities.
(It’s very important to ensure the environment is least
restrictive and least distractive though)
By the end of 3 months; Alisha should be able to complete
tasks with good level speed, and solve problems without
support within time frame considered average for her age.

Cognitive Flexibility It is the ability to change what you are thinking about, how
and Control you are thinking about it and even what you think about it –
in other words, the ability to change your mind. Cognitive
flexibility is required in multiple ways throughout the
school day. Also taken in to account when a child is
switching between activities.
Multiple This explains the child’s ability to multitask with success. It
Simultaneous is the ability to move attention and effort back and forth
Attention between two or more activities when engaged in them at the
same time. It makes demands on sustained attention,
response inhibition and speed of information processing,
and also requires planning and strategy
Working Memory In simple terms, it’s defined as the child’s ability to
remember instructions or keep information in the mind long
enough to perform tasks. We use simple working memory
when we look at a phone number and keep it in mind while
we dial it. Working memory is the sketch pad of the mind
where we put things to think about and manipulate.
Alisha’s Cognitive Skills Programme, October – December 2019
(Consistency and rehearsal will be of great importance in
this case)
By the end of 3 months; Alisha should be able to switch
between activities smoothly and with less than 60% resistance
in all activities she is involved in.
(Firmness and positive reinforcement/reward system is of
great importance)
By the end of 3 months; Alisha should be able to attend to
different stimuli concurrently with less than 20% sensory
overload and stress during the multitasking.
(All the Points to note in the above skills are very crucial.
We however need to start by only taking on two activities
first, before moving on to more activities)
By the end of 3 months, Alisha should be able to recall past
locations of her/important stuff, remember procedures in
solving problems as earlier taught, keep and accurately follow
2 – 3 step instruction.
(There is the need of simplicity and clarity of instructions,
 as well as ensuring visual support in during training-use
visual timetable)
Category Formation This refers to the ability to organize information, concepts By the end of 3 months, Alisha should be able to:-
and skills into categories, and forms the cognitive basis for  Tidy up after an activity 50% of all the time with not
higher-level abilities like applying, analyzing, and more than 3 prompts (whether physical, auditory or
evaluating those concepts and skills. Categories are the even tactile prompt) per activity
basis of language and organization of the world.  Neatly arrange items and toys according to their use
50% of all the time
 Sort out items according to color, similarity of item,
and simple categories 40% of all the time.

(Firmness, practice and positive reinforcement/reward

system is of great importance)

Pattern Recognition This is a special ability of the human brain to find patterns,
and figure out in a logical way what those patterns suggest
about what will happen next. In a broad sense, pattern
recognition and inductive thinking form the basis for all
scientific inquiry.
By the end of 3 months Alisha should be able to:-
 Arrange numbers 1 – 5 sequentially with 50%
accuracy
 Copy a given pattern (made of shapes, pictures,
numbers etc)

(Firmness and positive reinforcement/reward system is of

great importance, as well as consistency and rehearsing.
Use familiar pictures to start, as well as concrete items e.g.
blocks legos etc)

Alisha’s Cognitive Skills Programme, October – December 2019

Prepared by,

Daniel Mutava

Programme Coordinator

Alisha’s Cognitive Skills Programme, October – December 2019