What is executive function?
"Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. When children have opportunities to develop executive function and self-regulation skills, individuals and society experience lifelong benefits. These skills are crucial for learning and development. They also enable positive behavior and allow us to make healthy choices for ourselves and our families. Children aren’t born with these skills—they are born with the potential to develop them. The full range of abilities continues to grow and mature through the teen years and into early adulthood. To ensure that children develop these capacities, it’s helpful to understand how the quality of the interactions and experiences that our communities provide for them either strengthens or undermines these emerging skills."
In the world of academics, executive function deficits reveal themselves when bright kids begin to fail classes, not because they cannot handle the material, but because they are overwhelmed with the day-to-day tasks of managing their classes, assignments, homework, and extracurriculars.
Why is executive function important?
Executive function skills help students:
- Achieve in school - these skills help students keep organized, manage classwork, plan and set goals for long-term assignments, maintain focus, and persist in problem solving.
- Manage emotions - being aware of the emotions of oneself and others help in leadership, teamwork, and personal relationships (especially with teachers).
- Handle stress - developing these skills help people make better lifelong choices in regards to nutrition, exercise, stress management, and resisting peer pressures.
Executive function skills are vital in the classroom but continue to play a role in our success long after the books are closed. Developing these skills early will provide numerous benefits down the road.
how do i know if my child needs executive function coaching?
Executive function deficits are not a learning disorder, though patterns of weakness in executive functioning are extremely common in students with specific learning disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia, or discalculia. Common behaviors in students with limited executive functioning will display behaviors like:
- cluttered backpacks and work spaces
- bad grades due to missing assignments (often times finished assignments that were not turned in)
- extreme affinity for distractions when working (phones, video games, youtube, social media)
- stress and feeling overwhelmed by school
- forgetting important papers or books in lockers or at home
- not knowing when important dates are (tests, project deadlines, big events)
- an inability to retain information or recall what happened in class
Executive function deficiencies manifest themselves primarily through an inability to plan, organize, and execute. If your child exhibits these behaviors they are not struggling in school because they are not capable or smart, but rather because they are struggling with self-regulation and managing what's expected of them. This is when executive function coaching is beneficial.
how we help
We help students develop personal strategies to handle the steps of executive function:
- Analyzing the task
- Plan and develop timelines to complete the task
- Organize the steps necessary for execution
- Adjust or adapt if needed
Our aim in executive function coaching is first to help the student become cognizant of the steps required to properly handle their duties, then assist them in creating the structure necessary to follow through. We provide direct help utilizing a planner, developing organizational strategies, backpack decluttering, and class management. Through various organizational tools we aim to create self-motivated and independent learners.