Explaining Executive Function
Is your child a disorganized student, a poor planner, an aimless academic? A lack of executive function may be to blame.
If neither you nor your child has ever had difficulty in planning or organizing a project for school or work, you can stop reading now. I am probably safe in saying that, since there are so few of you out there.
Who among us hasn't had trouble composing that first sentence in a paper or an important letter? It's not easy, but many of us do eventually get past the mental impasse and summon the complex planning and organizing necessary to write term papers, run work projects, even plan a renovation of a kitchen or separate dark-colored laundry from light. Executive function is an imposing name for a group of essential mental tasks, including planning, strategizing, organizing, setting goals, and paying attention to the important details that will help to achieve those goals. Executive function is what gets us down to business even when we'd rather just hang out.
We could add still more traits to the list: self-discipline, self-regulation, a clear sense of time, the ability to hold many things in one's mind at once, to work congenially with others, share responsibility, consider new ideas, make corrections, memorize and retrieve information from memory, as well as research, read, inquire, all to further inform ourselves about the task at hand. Executive function involves a collection of behavioral expectations once taken for granted by teachers and managers, and only recently singled out to explain failure or inadequate performance in school and/or life.
Experts often ponder the relationship between executive function and theory of mind. At the very least, theory of mind involves two essential skills — the ability to reflect about one's own thoughts and feelings, and the ability to tune into the feelings and expectations of others. (Many of us who lingered in the universities for much of our early adulthood learned, for example, that one's grade on an essay exam had as much to do with our understanding of the professor's viewpoint as it did with facts and figures. We became skilled at telling our teachers what they wanted to hear! It may sound cynical to say, but both theory of mind and executive function are necessarily involved in higher educational success.)
When does executive function develop?
What happens when kids don't have good executive function?
How can I help my child improve his skills?
When does executive function develop?
As with theory of mind, some combination of genes and life experience results in the ultimate development of the ability to organize our thoughts and plan, allowing us to achieve our goals. Executive function begins to develop in infancy. Watch a baby discovering that kicking her legs will make the characters on her mobile spin around. Once she recognizes the cause-and-effect relationship between leg-kicking and mobile action, she will revel in making it happen. She is in charge, having learned how to keep an idea ("kick to move mobile") in mind while getting it done.
But babies and young children are still very easily distracted. Something more interesting may come along — such as a jack-in-the box being wound up in front of a 1 year old who had been putting shapes into a sorter, or the smell of cookies baking for a 3 year old doing a puzzle. For these little guys, the consequences of distraction are minor. But by school age, children are expected to regulate their behavior, plan a project, be aware of time, obey the rules of social conduct, think about what they are trying to do, ask for help when they need it, ignore distractions, put a plan all together and get things done. Some, however, have great trouble with planning or estimating the time it will take, trouble with organizing things in sequence, as in retelling a story, memorizing and retrieving what has been memorized when needed and more. These are all difficulties with executive function.
What happens when kids don't have good executive function?
In certain disorders such as autism and ADHD, executive function is typically impaired. In fact, much of what we call ADHD may be, in a broader sense, poor executive function. Impaired executive function is also involved in behavioral disorders, particularly those which include limited self-control, addiction, lack of appropriate restraint, failure to think ahead about future consequences.
But many children (and adults) who fail for no apparent reason, including some who score high on intelligence tests, may also lack executive function. In short, there is no solid planning for the future without good executive function. And without good executive function, there is little incentive to do today's boring tasks, such as memorizing and studying for the sake of potential future rewards. It's hard to get started and maybe even more difficult to complete tasks. Motivation is often compromised. Handling the inevitable frustrations involved in virtually any venture is undermined by poor executive function. Being in charge of one's emotions is vital for good executive function.
How can I help my child improve his skills?
Depending on the causes of distractibility and other possible executive function impairments, there are ways to help children "get their acts together." If, as is often the case, attention deficits are at the root of the problem, experts begin by addressing attention issues. In a step-by-step way, educators and tutors often help with time management — checklists, due dates, planners, and "to do" lists. Enforcing regularly scheduled clean-up times in order to keep work space organized is useful. Some kids need patient, encouraging instruction in the process of "clearing the decks" in order to do a project from beginning to end. If your child struggles constantly with organization and planning tasks, talk to his teacher or the school psychologist about how best to help him.
Even among children of the same age or grade, brains mature physically at differing rates. Working with each child where she is, allowing gradual success and mastery to win the day, is the best approach, however long it takes. Take your lead from the patient professionals working with your child. Learn what the world and its challenges look like through her eyes. While it takes time and infinite patience, many, many children have overcome the obstacle of impaired executive function and eventually succeeded in school.
Adele M. Brodkin, Ph.D., is a psychologist, consultant, and author of many books, including Fresh Approaches to Working With Problematic Behavior and Raising Happy and Successful Kids: A Guide for Parents. In addition, she has written and produced award-winning educational videos.
