Developing Executive Function Skills

Kenny was a brilliant student in college; he aced most of his tests, but his challenge was that he needed to be more organized with schoolwork and turn in projects on time. His inability to stay organized led to incomplete submissions and failure to complete his final year project on time, causing him to spend extra time at school and reducing his overall grades (and worrying his parents!).

Kenny was academically sound and naturally intelligent, but he lacked executive function skills and had difficulties finishing tasks. This negatively impacted his academic performance, and if not resolved, despite being super bright, he will still have challenges progressing in the workplace.

“Executive function refers to skills that help us focus, plan, prioritize, work toward goals, self-regulate behaviors and emotions, adapt to new and unexpected situations, and ultimately engage in abstract thinking and planning”? (Johanna Calderon, 2020).

Executive Function is rarely mentioned in schools except in cases of diagnosed ADHD, but it is an umbrella set of skills essential for success beyond academics. Interestingly, most top-level management efforts are directed toward improving executive function skills like planning, organization, and goal setting. However, these skills could be mastered early in school if deliberately practiced.

Executive Function allows us to identify and achieve many of our life goals. It is the ability to plan, start, and finish tasks. Academic success in the digital age is increasingly linked to mastery of such processes as goal setting, planning, prioritizing, and organizing. Consequently, students need to be taught to set goals, organize, prioritize, and self-regulate, beginning in the elementary grades. Executive Function should be explicitly connected to the curriculum.

Executive Function Skills

Executive function skills can best be remembered with the acronym POSITIVE, which represents:

Planning is the process of setting goals and determining the best course of action to achieve those goals

Organization refers to arranging and structuring various elements to promote efficiency and clarity.

Self-management regulates emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations.

Inhibition is the ability to control impulses and resist distractions or temptations. It involves the capacity to think things through before acting.

Time Management is the ability to allocate our most valuable asset, time. With time management, we can prioritize tasks, complete tasks within the deadline, and be punctual.

Visualization is thinking ahead and mentally creating images of goals, tasks, and processes to enhance performance and understanding.

Self-Assessment of Executive Function

You can list the skills mentioned above and do a self-assessment to identify areas you lack and would need improvement. For example, if you notice that you are consistently late for appointments and miss deadlines, you should work on your time management skills. There are tons of articles and books written on time management that could help improve this skill.

I write articles to share actionable insights in education and self-development. In my next series of articles, I’ll explore all the executive function skills associated with the POSITIVE acronym.

READ MY COLLECTION OF ARTICLES HERE

Tips to Improve Executive Function

Here are some tips to generally improve your executive function.

1. Set Goals: Goal setting is as crucial for the KG 12 elementary student as it is for the CEO of a Fortune 500 organization. We should learn to set annual goals, quarterly objectives, weekly tasks, and daily to-do lists. This simple but difficult-to-practice skill is invaluable to our lifetime success.
2. Prioritize tasks: I still struggle with this skill because I juggle many projects and strive to give them equal attention (Oh! Mothers, don’t we?). However, it’s vital to decide which task should come first and focus on completing it.
3. Organize space and time: An organized space can boost productivity by 70%, so it’s important to keep our home, schools, and workspaces tidy and the important tools for study or work within reach.
4. Play games and carry out activities that require planning and strategy: These activities could be fun but also beneficial in learning and mastering executive function skills by creating opportunities for deliberate practice where you can get immediate feedback on performance by your success or failure in the games which are part of the learning process. You can read my article on family-fun board games.
5. Maintain Healthy Habits: Getting 7 – 8 hours of sleep, regular exercise, meditation, and eating a balanced diet may seem cliché, but honestly, these habits cannot be emphasized enough. Use phone settings and apps or set calendar reminders to reinforce good habits.
6. Use of Checklist: The brain is best utilized in thinking creatively and solving problems, and it’s underutilized when clustered with information simply for storage. So, it’s good practice to use a checklist. Although simple, a checklist has drastically reduced accidents in the medical and aviation industries. (In these industries, trained professionals must follow a checklist before carrying out their activities).
7. Time Limits and Rewards: One of the reasons the SMART goal-setting system is effective is that it encourages time-bound goals. Goals and activities should not be floating in space but grounded in time. Rewards, on the other hand, provide the much-needed motivation to complete tasks. (Setting a limit on your phone for screen time is a great place to start!)

Based on numerous research studies that I skimmed through to write this article, Executive Function is a set of cognitive skills that help us manage our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. These skills are essential for success in schoolwork and life.

You can find out where your child could use extra support with executive functioning skills and get personalized insights on how to help them succeed. It’s easy, free, and only takes a few minutes. Let's set your child up for success TODAY!

Kimberly Selchan, Resilient One, and Tutor Doctor Regional Owner

My mission: “To help today's youth become tomorrow's successful adults.”