Executive Function

Executive Function

Executive Functions is a set of mental skills that help you get things done. Executive functions let people plan, organize and complete tasks. Executive function is an imposing name for a group of essential mental tasks, including planning, strategizing, organizing, setting goals, and paying attention to the important details, that will help to achieve those goals. Executive functioning skills are mental processes that allow all of us to plan, manage our time, organize and have self-control. These skills are important for everyone to have, but are especially essential in children. When children have opportunities to develop and enhance their self-regulation skills, not only do the children gain advantage in career development, but society as a whole benefits for years to come .These skills are controlled by an area of the brain called the frontal lobe.

Executive function helps you: 

1. Manage time
2. Pay attention
3. Switch focus
4. Plan and organize
5. Remember details
6. Avoid saying or doing the wrong thing
7. Do things based on your experience
8. Multitask

Warning signs that a child may be having problems with executive function include trouble in:

1. Planning projects  

2. Estimating how much time a project will take to complete
3. Telling stories (verbally or in writing)
4. Memorizing
5. Starting activities or tasks
6. Remembering
7. Work or go to school
8. Do things independently
9. Weak initiation know-how struggles with starting a project or assignment. They sometimes have no idea where or how to start, but can usually complete the task if they get started.
10. Weak organizational skills struggle with handling, storing and retrieving objects or thoughts in an effective way.
11.Impulsive
12. Weak emotional control
13. Flexible thinking is not there.
14. Weak working memory
15. Planning and prioritization is not there
16. Ability of self-monitoring is not there

Many children have difficulties with one or more executive functions. In fact, most people who struggle with executive functioning are never “diagnosed” with a problem but simply see it as an area of weakness for them.

Three Area of Executive Functioning

Many experts view it as a group of three skills that allow kids to manage their thoughts , actions and emotions in order to get things done. They also enable kids to plan manage time and organize.

1. Working memory: A child might use this skill to read a passage on an English test, hold on to the information, and use it to answer questions.

2. Cognitive Flexibility: Being able to think about something in more than one way. It is also known as flexible thinking.

3. Inhibitory control: Being able to ignore distraction and resist temptation. It also include self control.


Children with psychiatric issues, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; learning disabilities; and problems in social, emotional, and behavioral functioning, often display impairments in their use of executive functions. They may display difficulties in getting started on tasks, sustaining attention and effort levels, following multi-step directions, staying organized, and managing time effectively. It is important to note that many children will display executive strengths in certain areas and dysfunctions in others. Executive functioning difficulties are often undiagnosed in many children, but their problems are usually identifiable through school. Children with executive functioning difficulties often manifest as Alternative Learners, or students who struggle in traditional classrooms.

How can I help my child improve his skills?

Parenting a child with executive functioning issues can have its challenges. But there are specific strategies and tools that could make everyday life easier for you and your child.

Here are some tips from the National Center for Learning Disabilities:

Take a step-by-step approach to work.
Rely on visual organizational aids.
Use tools like time organizers, computers, or watches with alarms.
Make schedules and look at them several times a day.
Ask for written and oral instructions whenever possible.
Plan for transition times and shifts in activities.
Work on visualization skills.

Encourage your child to create a picture in his mind of what he’s just read or heard. For example, if you’ve told him to set the table for five people, ask him to come up with a mental picture of what the table should look like. Then have him draw that picture. As he gets better at visualizing, he can describe the image to you instead of needing to draw it.
Suggest games that use visual memory.

There are lots of matching games that can help your child work on visual memory. You can also do things like give your child a magazine page and ask him to circle all instances of the word the or the letter a in one minute. You can also turn license plates into a game. Take turns reciting the letters and numbers on a license plate and then saying them backwards, too.
Play cards.

Simple card games like Crazy Eights, Uno, Go Fish and War can improve working memory in two ways. Your child has to keep the rules of the game in mind. But he also has to remember what cards he has and which ones other people have played.
Help make connections.

Help your child form associations that connect the different details he’s trying to remember. Grab your child’s interest with fun mnemonics like vibgyor. (Thinking about this name can help kids remember the order of the colors in the rainbow.) Finding ways to connect information helps with forming and retrieving long-term memory issue. It also helps with working memory, which is what we use to hold and compare new and old memories.

To improve time management:

Create checklists and estimate how long each task will take.
Break long assignments into chunks, and assign time frames for completing each one.
Use calendars to keep track of long-term assignments, due dates, chores, and activities.
Write the due date on the top of each assignment.
Make Time Management Fun
Show Your Kids How to Measure Time
Create a Family Calendar Together
Create Calendars for Each Family Member
Stay on Task.
Don't Overscheduled Your Kids
Schedule Free Time.
Help Them Establish Daily Priorities

To better manage space and keep things from getting lost:

Have separate work areas with complete sets of supplies for different activities.
Organize the work space.
Minimize clutter.
Schedule a weekly time to clean and organize the work space.

To improve work habits:

Make a checklist for getting through assignments. For example, a student's checklist could include such items as: get out pencil and paper; put name on paper; put due date on paper; read directions; etc.
Meet with a teacher or supervisor on a regular basis to review work and troubleshoot problems.

· Read to them often, and let them read to you!

· Model instruction instead of giving away answers.

· Give them alternative examples if they still aren’t getting the concept (real life examples help students make connections to what they are learning and become easier for them to paint a picture in their mind).

· Ask them to explain how they got the answer (they need to be able to support their choice and is great practice for building creative and critical thinking skills).

· Before checking their work, let them check and correct their own mistakes first (this will prevent them from relying on an adult for the answers).
Visual Scheduling or a time timetable can be made about the things expected from him, or what will he be doing next after his task is over.

Children need to be provided with guidance and support both at school and at home, because learning is an ongoing process that never stops and should not be put on hold. So it is important to be involved with your child in some way just as much as it is important not to do the work for them. For children to get the most out of their learning experience they need to be using their knowledge in everything they do.

Take advantage of this time, your child is the prime age to be a learner; their minds are fresh and hungry for knowledge!




Happy Parenting ! :)