Executive function skills are a set of skills that are not given enough attention in the classroom.
Executive functioning is said to be the air traffic control system of the brain — it refers to how well students pay attention, organize and prioritize, focus attention on tasks through completion, exhibit emotional control and keep track of the things they are doing. While the term executive function is starting to gain some deserved attention in the classroom, parents can have a huge impact on the growth of these necessary skills for their children.
Let’s look at why executive functioning (EF) has been historically overlooked in our education system and how parents can help their children learn these EF skills.
How did we get here? Why executive functioning is overlooked
The U.S. public education system has always been focused on results. Results in the form of grades, standardized test scores and student performance. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2001, schools that did not consistently meet federal standards for proficiencies could face funding cuts. The Every Student Succeeds Act, ushered in by President Obama, largely transferred the accountability of these assessments from the federal to the state level.
Under both laws the incentive for schools is to ensure students are meeting state or federal proficiency standards. That’s why many curriculums — understandably so — have been geared toward achieving certain benchmarks for each grade level.
This approach works to some degree for certain subjects. In many subjects, knowledge and competency can be tested and measured. But a student’s executive functioning is much harder to determine: How can you say whether a student is able to prioritize big projects or budget their time at a satisfactory level when doing school work? How do you track if they’ve improved their emotional regulation? Or their time management capabilities or ability to pay attention?
Executive Functioning has not been allotted the same commitment of resources given to other subjects. This is due to extensive, grade-level federal and state assessments which are often tied to funding. The issue is exacerbated because schools have difficulty monitoring and evaluating executive functioning deficits in young children all the way through to high school students.
Beyond testing and assessment, there’s an additional, simple reason why executive functioning hasn’t been a priority: lack of awareness. These executive skills have only in recent years become labeled under the umbrella of “executive functioning.” For decades, these intangible skills and cognitive processes did not have a name in the classroom. If you don’t have a label for a group of skills, it’s hard to begin to address student shortcomings in a structured, standardized way.
Why do some children lack executive functioning skills?
If you were asked what you did this morning, you wouldn’t describe how you brushed your teeth, ate breakfast and left the house on time. These are things in our daily routines that we do without thinking; things that are a given. And yet, many children are unable to complete tasks on time. They could be easily distracted when they eat breakfast, or forget to brush their teeth and be late leaving for school.
This lack of time management is due to prefrontal cortex development– the key to executive function abilities– which can develop until a person is 25 years of age. Simply put, a child’s brain is not fully developed in the frontal lobe. The best way to accelerate this development and prevent executive dysfunction is to provide consistency. For example, if your child is a visual learner, you may want to write out their to-do lists so they can reference on a daily basis to help them remember to complete activities and when to do so.
An additional way to build strong habits is to use positive reinforcement. It may be tempting to do certain tasks for a child such as throwing out their trash or clearing their dishes. Instead, look for the different ways to truly motivate your child — perhaps it is a setting up a reward system or helping them with goal setting. For some children, simply providing positive verbal praise and affirmations is enough. Provide these types of rewards when they complete new tasks or show task initiation; that way the task will become a habit. Are there going to be times when you are too exhausted and not willing to fight a battle with your child? Of course.
Building these habits may never be perfect: but keep the big picture in perspective.
What can parents do to improve these skills?
I can already hear you saying: I struggle with building routines on my own and holding myself accountable is hard work. How am I going to teach my children these skills? Trust me, I can absolutely relate!
First off — and this is key — give yourself some grace. Know that you will not adhere precisely to the routine every day. But do try to stay consistent: If a child has a chore to take out the trash every Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., you can create a visual calendar with their name next to it. Provide positive reinforcement — through whatever motivates them — until that chore becomes a habit. If you struggle with organizational skills and completing tasks, try to build routines and reminders that will keep you consistent as well.
Parents should also collaborate with their child’s teachers about issues that they see at home, get input on how the student acts in the classroom and develop a comprehensive approach based on these insights.
Lastly, parents can turn to online resources for executive function disorder for a variety of ways to build healthy habits and cultivate executive functioning skills. In addition, tap your network: you’d be surprised how many other fellow parents might be dealing with similar issues with their children — and may have helpful tips, too.
Harnessing and emphasizing student strengths
Just as it’s important to build a routine for your child, that doesn’t mean you should remove their passions if they seem less relevant to improving their executive functioning. If your child loves playing sports, that’s great — but build that play time into a structure!
Many parents of children with attention deficit disorder know they may struggle with poor executive functioning. Their children have many positive traits: their creativity, their spontaneity and their resilience. Use these traits to help conquer executive function challenges:
- Let children create their own morning schedule.
- Encourage them to be resilient even when they have difficulty following their routines.
- Let them be spontaneous and leave them free time, as long as it has parameters and doesn’t impact other routines.
You don’t want to limit your child’s passions, but fit them into a larger structure so they can build these important skills. All the while, make sure to positively reinforce behaviors that should be encouraged.
Conclusion
Up to 90% of students diagnosed with ADHD also struggle with executive functioning deficits that can impact them in some capacity all the way through to being college students and into their professional careers. There’s no better time than now for parents and schools to prioritize executive functioning skills.
After all, while a child may not use long division much past high school, they will absolutely rely on their executive functioning skills every day of their life.
Learnfully has a team of educational therapists who are specifically trained to work with learners who have executive function deficits. Contact us today to be matched with an educational therapist.
