Over the past few years, executive function has become something of a buzzword in education. Just as everyone has different areas of academic strengths and weaknesses, every person has different executive function strengths and weaknesses.
What is Executive Function, Exactly?
Executive function is the brain’s ability to coordinate the thinking and behavior needed to start, sustain, monitor, and adjust one’s attitudes and behaviors required to achieve a goal. Struggles with executive function are very common for neurodivergent thinkers.
Different components of executive function include:
- Organization
- Time management
- Planning and prioritization
- Task initiation
- Sustained attention
- Flexibility
- Goal directed persistence
- Working memory
- Metacognition.
Difficulties with any of these brain functions can prevent a student from performing to the best of their ability.
Executive Function Disorders Are Not Often Not Recognized In Younger Kids
Parents may notice the symptoms of executive function disorders long before their child experiences any difficulties at school. It can show up as something as benign as struggling to manage simple tasks at home – long before they encounter frustration completing a 3-page essay for a class.
The ability to start or complete daily tasks is part of executive function and can explain why a request to ‘clean your bedroom’ can be so hard for these kids to complete. The task can feel vague or even daunting to them. Where should they start? The floor? The closet? Under the bed? The dresser drawers? The piles of crafts and toys and projects?
As they get older, they might struggle to start or complete their homework or fail to ask questions at school when they are stuck on an assignment. They might shut down in class, not put forth their best effort because they aren’t sure where to start, lose assignments or fail to submit them.
Does My Child Have Executive Function Challenges?
Many parents of students we work with describe teachers who tell them their child is bright but struggles with important tasks such as follow through and handing in homework in a timely manner. Others report that their student stays up far too late the night before an essay is due or forgets about their homework because they don’t have a sense of how long a task should take.
Students With Executive Function Disorders: How Can the Flying Colors Team Help?
Our team has extensive experience working with students with a wide range of learning disabilities, ADHD and executive function challenges. For each student with whom we work, we develop a tailored plan, with the goals of increasing student achievement, confidence, and independence in learning routines.
Here are some of the ways Flying Colors can help students with executive function disorders:
- Establishing and maintaining an organizational system that works with the student’s learning style.
- Check-ins and accountability on homework, essays, projects, and tests.
- Help prioritizing tasks and assignments.
- Study skills to aid in note taking, test-taking and task completion.
- Breaking down long term projects into smaller, manageable tasks for easier completion and success.
- Academic tutoring and support in a variety of classes to support student’s learning style and academic needs.
If you are interested in learning more, please contact Rachel Erickson, our director for students with learning differences and attention issues at [email protected].