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Understanding Executive Functioning Issues

Executive function is like the CEO of the brain. It’s in charge of making sure things get done from the planning stages of the job to the final deadline. When kids have issues with executive functioning, any task that requires planning, organization, memory, time management and flexible thinking becomes a challenge. The more you know about the challenges, the better you’ll be able to help your child build her executive skills and manage the difficulties.

What are executive functioning issues?

Executive functioning issues aren’t considered a disability on their own. They’re weaknesses in a key set of mental skills. And they often appear in kids with learning and attention issues. What are executive functions? How do they impact learning and everyday living?

Executive functions consist of several mental skills that help the brain organize and act on information. These skills enable people to plan, organize, remember things, prioritize, pay attention and get started on tasks. They also help people use information and experiences from the past to solve current problems.

If your child has executive functioning issues, any task requiring these skills could be a challenge. That could include doing a load of laundry or completing a school project. Having issues with executive functioning makes it difficult to:

• Keep track of time
• Make plans
• Make sure work is finished on time
• Multitask
• Apply previously learned information to solve problems
• Analyze ideas
• Look for help or more information when it is needed

How Executive Functioning Works

Another way to understand your child’s difficulties is to see how the process of executive functioning works. Here is an example of how the process works, broken down into six steps:

1. Analyze a task. Figure out what needs to be done.
2. Plan how to handle the task.
3. Get organized. Break down the plan into a series of steps.
4. Figure out how much time is needed to carry out the plan, and set aside the time.
5. Make adjustments as needed
6. Finish the task in the time allotted.

If executive functioning is working well and the task is fairly simple, the brain may go through these steps in a matter of seconds. If your child has weak executive skills, though, performing even a simple task can be challenging. Remembering a specific word may be as big a struggle as planning tomorrow’s schedule.

What causes executive functioning issues?

Scientists still aren’t sure why some children have executive functioning difficulties. Research has identified some possible links:

• Genes and heredity: Kids differ in how they use executive skills. But chances are high that your child uses them in the same way you do. Studies show that the differences among kids are almost completely influenced by genes.[1]
• Brain differences: For the most part, executive functioning is controlled by a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. Research has shown that people who have disorders, diseases or injuries to the prefrontal cortex often develop executive functioning issues.[2] Experts are using that research to study whether the prefrontal cortex in kids with executive functioning issues works differently than in other kids.
• Other disabilities and disorders: Kids with ADHD and dyslexia often struggle with executive functioning. So do children with neurological conditions, mood disorders, autism and acquired brain injury.

What are the symptoms of executive functioning issues?

Executive functioning issues can produce a wide range of symptoms. Depending on which skills your child struggles with the most, and the particular task she’s doing, you might see the following signs:

• Finds it hard to figure out how to get started on a task
• Can focus on small details or the overall picture, but not both at the same time
• Has trouble figuring out how much time a task requires
• Does things either quickly and messily or slowly and incompletely
• Finds it hard to incorporate feedback into work or an activity
• Sticks with a plan, even when it’s clear that the plan isn’t working
• Has trouble paying attention and is easily distracted
• Loses a train of thought when interrupted
• Needs to be told the directions many times
• Has trouble making decisions
• Has a tough time switching gears from one activity to another
• Doesn’t always have the words to explain something in detail
• Needs help processing what something feels/sounds/looks like
• Isn’t able to think about or do more than one thing at a time
• Remembers information better using cues, abbreviations or acronyms

As your child’s brain continues to develop, the symptoms of executive functioning issues may change. Early intervention can help you find ways to use your child’s strengths to support weaknesses starting when she’s young. But since the brain continues to develop into young adulthood, intervention can be helpful at any age.

What skills are affected by executive functioning issues?

There are several key skills involved in executive function. But your child may not struggle with all of them to the same degree. Executive skills include:

• Impulse control: This is your child’s ability to stop and think before acting. Impulsivity can be a symptom of ADHD. Kids who have trouble with impulse control may blurt things out. They may do unsafe things without thinking it through. They’re likely to rush through homework without checking it. They also may quit a chore halfway through to go hang out with friends and have trouble following rules consistently.
• Emotional control: This is your child’s ability to manage her feelings by focusing on the end result or goal. Emotional control and impulse control are closely related. Kids who struggle with emotional control often have trouble accepting negative feedback. They also may overreact to little injustices. They may struggle to finish a task when something upsets them.
• Flexibility: This is your child’s ability to roll with the punches and come up with new approaches when a plan fails. Kids who are inflexible think in very concrete ways. They don’t see other options or solutions. They find it difficult to change course. They may get panicky and frustrated when they’re asked to do so.
• Working memory: This is your child’s ability to hold information in her mind and use it to complete a task. Kids who have weak working memory skills have trouble with multi-step tasks. They have a hard time remembering directions, taking notes or understanding something you’ve just explained to them. If your child has trouble with working memory, you frequently may hear, “I forgot what I was going to say.”
• Self-monitoring: This is your child’s ability to keep track of and evaluate her performance on regular tasks. Kids who have trouble self-monitoring lack self-awareness. They can’t tell if their strategies are working. They may not even realize they have strategies. They often don’t know how to check their work.
• Planning and prioritizing: This is your child’s ability come up with the steps needed to reach a goal and to decide their order of importance. Kids with weak planning and prioritizing skills may not know how to start planning a project. They may be easily overwhelmed trying to break tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. They may have trouble seeing the main idea.
• Task initiation: This is your child’s ability to get started on something. Kids who struggle with this skill often have issues with planning and prioritizing too. Without having a plan for a task, it’s hard to know how to start. Kids with task initiation problems can come across as lazy or as simply procrastinating. But often they’re just so overwhelmed they freeze and do nothing.
• Organization: This is your child’s ability to keep track of information and things. Kids with organizational issues are constantly losing or misplacing things. They can’t find a way to get organized even when there are negative consequences to being disorganized.

If your child has any or all of these issues, it may feel upsetting to both you and her. But there are strategies you can try at home to help your child learn to work around these weaknesses. Kids with mild to moderate weaknesses are able to compensate for them well enough to learn and complete everyday tasks.

What can be done at home for executive functioning issues?

It may not be easy to sort out whether your child’s difficulties with executive functioning skills are related to another condition. You may be able to help your child even without her being diagnosed with a disorder. The goal is to identify your child’s specific areas of difficulty and find strategies that help. Here are some things you may want to consider trying at home. Try introducing them one at a time so you can see whether it has a positive effect.

• Make checklists. Listing the steps involved in a task will make it easier for your child to see how to get started. It also may lessen her anxiety around planning. Checklists provide a visual reminder of where your child left off if she got distracted. You can make checklists for everything from the tasks she has to do before school to how to make a sandwich.
• Set time limits. Your child may struggle to budget time for an activity and also for each step of that activity. On your checklists, consider giving a time estimate for each step. If your child doesn’t read yet, you can put some inexpensive kitchen timers around the house. Set them for the amount of time your child should be spending on everything from completing a math sheet to brushing her teeth.
• Use planners and calendars. Not all planners have to be on paper, which is a good thing if your child has trouble keeping track of items. You can put up a big family calendar somewhere and give your child her own colored marker. For older kids there are free or inexpensive apps and time-management software that can help.
• Explain yourself. Children who are inflexible thinkers or who have difficulty with emotional control don’t always take feedback well or see the point of learning new ways to do things. Try to spell out why it’s important to learn a new skill, or how it may save time and energy in the long run. And if the answer is simply, “Because that’s the way it has to be done,” don’t be afraid to say that.
• Let your child explain, too. Just because kids have trouble with executive functioning skills doesn’t mean their way of doing something isn’t valid. If your child’s method doesn’t make sense to you, consider taking the time to ask why before saying it has to be done differently. It may actually be an inventive approach that works for your child. The more successful strategies she comes up with herself, the better!

Courtesy of: https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/understanding-executive-functioning-issues

Another post with a wealth of information on executive functioning.