I’m sure that every parent has been frustrated that their child doesn’t follow instructions, but have you ever wondered if your bright child struggles even more than most to follow simple instructions or start their homework? It rarely has anything to do with their intelligence or drive. The answer is executive function.
If you are interested in student-specific strategies for working with ADHD, we have another guide for support.
The Control System of the Brain
These cognitive skills manage the flow of information, organisation, short-term and working memory, focus, and thought management. I think of it as the thoughts behind the thoughts; thinking about thinking.
Executive functioning takes place in the brain's pre-frontal cortex, which ADHD specialist Tamara Rosier describes as "a calm, rational butler, directing behaviour and managing emotion".
Executive function isn't about what you know, like historical facts or maths formulas. It's about the how of learning. It’s the type of thinking that allows you to:
- Plan essays.
- Solve new maths problems.
- Resist talking during quiet times.
- Putting away the phone when needing sleep.
- Adapting when a strategy doesn't work.
The latest research shows that a student's executive function skills are a more powerful predictor of their academic success than IQ score. Understanding executive function skills can be very valuable for children with ADHD, autism, or other special educational needs.
The Three Core Skills of Executive Function
While there are many models for executive function, most experts agree on three core skills that form the foundation.
1. Working Memory
Working memory is the ability to hold information in your mind for a short time. It’s not just remembering; it’s actively processing the information that you are working with. It's what you might use to remember multi-step instructions, solve maths in your head, or keeping the beginning of a sentence in mind while you continue reading. Someone with a limited working memory might struggle with complex, information-dense problems.
2. Inhibitory Control
Inhibitory control is the skill of controlling your attention, behaviour, thoughts, and emotions; It’s how you override an impulse and do something more considered. This skill helps us stay focused and act in socially appropriate ways. It allows a student to sit quietly instead of shouting out in class, avoid using their phone when another task requires attention, or ignore distractions such as background noise while working.
3. Cognitive Flexibility
This is the ability to switch between tasks or ways of thinking. This is what I call ‘thinking about thinking’, it’s being able to recognise when what you are doing should change or doesn’t make sense. A student uses cognitive flexibility when they switch from maths to reading in order to follow a homework schedule, apply feedback to revise an essay, or try a different strategy to solve a puzzle when their first attempt fails.
Developmental Delays
Children with ADHD often experience developmental delays in executive functioning skills compared to their neurotypical peers. Dr. Russell Barkley, a leading clinical psychologist and researcher specialising in ADHD, says that "children with ADHD may experience a developmental lag of up to 30 per cent in their executive functioning capabilities, meaning that a 10-year-old with ADHD could have the executive functioning skills of a typical 7-year-old." According to current research, executive functioning skills continue to develop until we're in our mid-late twenties, though individuals with ADHD may only develop 80% capacity compared to neurotypical peers. This video dives deeper into the topic if you'd like to learn more.
This delay isn't a reflection of their intelligence or potential but rather highlights the critical need for additional support in developing executive functioning skills. You can read more about Dr. Barkley’s research and recommendations on executive functioning at ADDitude Magazine and at CHADD.org.
It’s Not All Bad News
You can train executive function skills, and there is plenty of research that shows several different strategies you can use to train your executive function. When training your brain, I always think of the phrase: ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’. This means that if these skills are used, they will become stronger.
Make Tasks Visible
In order to execute a task, we have to visualise all the steps in our head first in order to know how to go about completing it. When we have executive functioning challenges, this visualisation skill is impaired, meaning we may struggle to get started on a task simply because we don't know what the steps should be. Imagine being told to bake a wedding cake, without being allowed to follow a recipe - that's how daunting a lot of everyday tasks can feel for children who struggle with EF.
Learning specialist Susan Kruger, MEd, recommends that we “make the invisible visible” by creating visual aids to help children with organisational tasks. These can be pictures or diagrams, such as a poster featuring a picture of every item that needs to be packed in a sports bag or school rucksack, post-it note reminders stuck up in unmissable places such as bathroom mirrors, or something as simple as using paper diaries and wall calendars rather than relying on digital calendars.
Strategy Games
People who play real time strategy games (such as Starcraft II or Age of Empires II) or board games (such as Settlers of Catan) significantly outperform non-gamers in planning and mental flexibility. These games require planning, patience, and strategy. The benefit of games like this is that they don't feel like a chore to add to a weekly routine; they are fun!
Exercise
Physical activity has a strong positive effect on executive function. Larger benefits are seen when exercise is also a mentally engaging activity, like basketball, tennis, or martial arts.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of my favourite tools! It is a form of training that focuses on your attention and can lead to improvements in executive function and patience, as well as significant benefits for mental health.
Beware of Direct Training
These are often computer-based games, tests, and quizzes designed to train a specific executive function skill, such as working memory or inhibition. However, while performance on the trained tasks often improves, these gains rarely transfer to real-life situations, like organising homework.
In summary, I would avoid ‘brain training’ and focus on fun, engaging executive function-focused games and regular mindfulness training.
Why This Matters
Understanding executive function helps us to view these challenges differently. Someone who struggles to start their work may not be being lazy; they might struggle to start a task. Someone who is easily distracted isn't always being disruptive; they may have poor inhibitory control.
By seeing these behaviours as a sign of an underdeveloped skill that can be trained, rather than a character flaw, we can find ways to improve them that go beyond “you need to try harder”.
Everyone can benefit from understanding their limitations in executive function, so even if you don’t have ADHD, autism or other SEN that affects your executive function, try training it for a couple of weeks and see how you feel.
