Intro to Executive Functioning skills

Executive Functioning Skills are a term that is mentioned and bandied about by educators in the last decade (or more) and with the addition of smartphones and technology a critical mass seems to have been reached.  In the past students with ADHD were the ones who needed the most assistance in building these skills. Now every student I meet seems to have weak executive functioning skills. What I have learned over time is that these skills are not self-evident and require modeling, practice and repetition. They are also skills that can be started at any age (and the earlier you start the better). Things like verbally breaking down the steps of a task to anything that is process oriented helps children. Honestly it helps learning because it’s rooted in how human beings learn, process information, and yes think. It requires planning, organization, time management, initiation, flexibility, inhibition, self-monitoring, working memory, and attention. That’s quite the list. Now some students can have working memory issues (and I feel for students with weak working memory especially because it does create a deficit that requires work to overcome), problems with attention (the root of ADHD), and initiation especially. Students have difficulty starting. Sometimes it’s better to ask what do you think you need to do first to help break them out of the cycle of looking to adults or others before they begin a task. The good news is these are skills that can be built up and once you have them then learning how to apply to other tasks becomes easier with each attempt. Entrepreneurs in particular need good executive functioning skills to launch their businesses or need to be good at finding the right people to fulfill the right roles. Bottom line: these skills affect not just your educational life but also your everyday life including chores like laundry, cooking a meal, and especially cleaning the house. Each week on Friday I will post a more in depth look at each of these skills and how to craft age appropriate ways to build them with a focus on teenagers. I also will include information about what learning disabilities or sometimes personality traits make it more difficult to build these skills and what that means. In the meantime, have hope that your child will be able to work on their weaknesses. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one and the second step is breaking down the process into actionable steps and then getting to work.