What Are Executive Functions?
“The Executive Functions are specific types of self-regulation or self-directed actions that people use to manage themselves effectively in order to sustain their actions (and problem-solving) toward their goals and the future.”
Completing assignments, meeting deadlines and managing time require us to marshal our cognitive and emotional capacities to get the job done. Executive functions are the brain-based capacities that enable us to accomplish tasks by regulating our emotions, attention, and behavior. Research done by Drs. Peg Dawson, Richard Guare, Russell A. Barkley, Thomas E. Brown, and others reveals the following capacities involved in the execution functions. Individuals with executive function skills weaknesses exhibit many of the following:
TIME MANAGEMENT
Live in the present with little sense of future consequences
Lose track of time when performing a preferred activity
METACOGNITION
Are unable to respond to feedback and adjust accordingly
Find it difficult to monitor or evaluate their performance
FLEXIBILITY
Have difficulty with transitions
Struggle to overcome setbacks
WORKING MEMORY
Quickly forget steps, directions, and complex information
Have poor reading comprehension
PLANNING
Are unable to complete long-term assignments
Have difficulty with problem-solving
ORGANIZATION
Bedroom and work areas are disorganized
Are unable to organize tasks and activities
EMOTIONAL CONTROL
Struggle to maintain friendships, relationships, or play on sports teams
Have difficulty managing anxiety or frustrations when doing work
RESPONSE INHIBITION
Make impulsive decisions and purchases
Have difficulty pulling themselves away from certain activities, such as video gaming, etc.
SUSTAINED ATTENTION
Are easily distracted by their own irrelevant thoughts
Feel tired or fall asleep while doing tasks
TASK INITIATION
Procrastinate
Require several prompts to begin a non-preferred task
GOAL-DIRECTED PERSISTENCE
Exhibit a pattern of incomplete projects and tasks
Don't follow through on promises
If you identify with several of the executive function deficits described above, then you or your student may benefit from executive functional skills coaching.
