Executive function
Executive function is more than getting a binder and hoping for the best
It is 7:30 on a school night. The homework has been on the table for an hour, and your child has written their name and nothing else. You have tried the timer, the planner, and the sticker chart, and you are starting to wonder: Do they just not care? Why is this so hard?
It is the third time this week the same student has not started the independent work. You have moved their seat, broken the task into steps, and emailed home, and you are wondering what else is left to try.
What you are seeing is a skill that is still developing, and you can learn exactly how to support it. I have been the mom at the kitchen table and the educator at the problem-solving table, and I teach the neuroscience that helps in both places. When the school and the family use the same language for executive function, they can finally work together.
Executive function is part of How I Manage, one of The Five Conditions for Learning. The other four conditions impact it too, so we look at all five when a learner is struggling. See the five conditions
The workshop
If you have asked any of these questions, this workshop is for you
- Why does my child have such a hard time getting started, even on things they know how to do?
- We tried the planner and the color-coded folders, so why is my child still struggling?
- Why does my student understand the lesson and then fall apart when it is time to do the work?
- Why does a simple task with a few steps fall apart halfway through?
- My child is bright, so why are homework and deadlines such a struggle?
- What is fair to expect from a 7-year-old, and how is that different at 12 or 17?
- Why is everything harder on the days a learner is tired or worried?
- Where in my day am I asking learners to use skills they have not built yet?
- What can I say or do in the moment to help a learner get organized and get going?
- How do we get everyone, at school and at home, on the same page about executive function?
Parents and caregivers: I also teach executive function in an evening talk for families. See family sessions
What it looks like
What you see, which skill it is, and what helps
The five skills build in order, and each one depends on the skills before it. Time management depends on all four skills before it, so when time is the problem, start by checking attention, organization, planning, and getting started.
After the workshop
What changes for you
- You can look at a stuck moment and name which skill it is.
- You know what is fair to expect at each age, from early childhood to adulthood.
- You leave with the words to say and a plan for one routine you can use immediately.
- Everyone around a learner, at school and at home, can describe executive function the same way and work together.
The neuroscience
What the research shows
Executive function is the bridge between knowing what to do and doing it. The research shows how much depends on it, and that it can be strengthened.
The problem
- In a national study of 8,920 U.S. children, working memory, flexible thinking, and impulse control in kindergarten each predicted reading, math, and science achievement in 2nd grade (Morgan et al., 2019).
- In a study that followed children from age 5 to age 11, working memory at age 5 was the best predictor of reading and math 6 years later, ahead of IQ (Alloway and Alloway, 2010).
- In a screening of 3,189 children ages 5 to 11, about 1 in 10 had very low working memory. Most of them struggled with learning, and teachers described them as easily distracted with short attention spans (Alloway et al., 2009).
- In a study of 1,120 children, about 9% had executive function that stayed low from ages 3 to 5, and they started kindergarten far less ready academically. Children in lower-resource settings were more likely to be in that group, which shows these skills respond to the conditions around a learner (Willoughby et al., 2017).
The solution
- Executive functions can be strengthened with practice and support at every age (Diamond, 2013).
- In a review of programs for children ages 4 to 12, the children whose executive function was weakest gained the most, so early support can keep achievement gaps from widening (Diamond and Lee, 2011).
- All five skills work inside working memory, which can hold only about 4 pieces of information at once (Cowan, 2001). Lowering what a learner has to keep in mind leaves more room for the skill itself.
- These skills keep developing until about ages 18 to 20 (Tervo-Clemmens et al., 2023), so we can match support to where a learner is now.