Executive Functioning: What Is It and How Can We Support It?
In our academic and professional societies, we describe how a person is performing as it relates to their productivity. Are you organized or disorganized? Are you chronically late or always on time? Do you complete each task that you start or do you abandon it at a certain point? In these scenarios, what we’re actually talking about is our executive function. Described as “the management system of the brain”, executive functioning skills include working memory, sequencing, regulation and self-control, and initiation and flexibility. When people struggle with these skills, it can impact them at home, in school, and in life. In this blog post, I will share easy ways that we can support students’ (or our own!) executive functioning at school.
Activity: Students are asked to read a text and respond to comprehension questions afterwards.
Support: If you’re finding that a student is struggling to remember details from the story or appropriately respond to comprehension prompts, you can support them by providing a graphic organizer. Graphic organizers can be used during independent reading (and at any level) to jot down important details from the text that can then be utilized to answer comprehension questions.
Executive functioning skills impacted: Working memory, planning, organizing information
Activity: A student is given a task to complete, but does not begin working - even after sufficient wait time has been given.
Support: It may be unclear to the student how to complete the task. Ask yourself: How many steps are required to complete this? Are there materials needed (scissors, glue, highlighters) that the student doesn’t have? Help them organize their desk in a way that makes clear the different steps needed, necessary materials, and how to know when the task is completed. You can also scaffold your support by modeling the first step, observing their first attempt, and encouraging their independence when they’ve “got it”.
Executive functioning skills impacted: Initiation and flexibility, sequencing, organization
Activity: Throughout the school day, a student frequently asks when it will be time for recess or becomes frustrated when it’s time to complete an activity.
Support: Many younger students and those that struggle with regulation and self-control may not have internal prompts such as having an internal voice saying ‘…after I have finished this I need to do that.’ This can make navigating the school day difficult and full of anxiety. Having access to a written and/or visual schedule can help them anticipate what’s next and feel more in control throughout the day. When there are changes in the schedule (a class visitor or school assembly), adding it to the schedule will give them advance warning so they are not so surprised when it happens.
Executive functioning skills impacted: Sequencing, regulation and self-control, initiation and flexibility
Activity: Students are working independently on an assignment for a sustained period of time.
Support: Some students may struggle to stay focused on a task for long periods of time (this could look like: talking to those around them, working on a different assignment or activity, getting out of their seat frequently). Implementing timers are a helpful way to support this! Using a Pomodoro timer, students can circulate between 10 minutes of work time and short, 3-minute breaks (times can vary). Or, students can use a timer to determine their time elapsed to complete a task. This can be helpful for them to understand how long (or short) certain activities are, which can support their management of them (in full transparency, I often time myself putting away the dishes as a reminder that it only takes a few minutes and doesn’t need to be dreaded).
Executive functioning skills impacted: Time management, regulation, initiation and flexibility
If you are interested in learning more about executive function and different ways to support these skills throughout environments, I’ve attached some helpful resources: