Developmental Expectations

Developmental Expectations for Understanding and Supporting Intervention

While we may observe students of varying ages applying a range of Executive Functioning skills, there is considerable evidence that these capacities develop throughout childhood and in to early adulthood. Children progress from a single capacity that is thought to be attention control as preschoolers to a more complex, three component executive control system in early adulthood.

Research with adults identifies three executive function factors:

Working memory
Self-Control (including inhibition)
Mental Flexibility (including shifting)

As students mature, the elements of Executive Functions become more distinct from one another and these age-related changes roughly correspond with division breakdowns in schools:

Kindergarten

For ages 4-5, researchers use simple activities such as the children’s game, ‘head and shoulders, knees and toes’, Head-to-Toes Task (HSKT) or 'red light, green light' as a good indicator of a child’s capacity to use attention, updating/working memory and inhibition to meet a challenge
Ages 3-6 years old, Executive Functioning is best understood as a single factor or general cognitive capacity as attention, updating/working memory and inhibition work together and are observed as attention controls

Primary and Junior Years

Children 7–9 years old and 10–11 years old continue to rely on a single set of skills that are comprised of inhibition, updating/working memory and mental flexibility skills
Mental flexibility, goal setting and information processing emerge between 7 and 9 years of age and are relatively mature by 12 years of age
Diamond’s (2002) work shows that being able to follow multiple task instructions develops before the ability to switch between tasks (mental flexibility). For example, a child with weak shift or mental flexibility might have difficulty when one task's demands conflicts with previous task's demands
Research suggests that executive function skill awareness begins to emerge between 9–12 years of age

Middle School Years

There is good evidence for middle school students using a two factor executive functioning system (e.g., updating/working memory, mental flexibility/shifting)
By the end of middle school, most students are consistently using updating/working memory, inhibition and beginning to use shifting (this skill emerges last)
Middle school students may rely on updating/working memory, inhibition and shifting but they are not able to use these skills separately

Secondary School Years and Beyond

The three-factor model that includes updating/working memory, inhibition (self-control), and shifting (mental flexibility) best describes how 13-15 year old students use executive functioning skills
In late adolescence, students develop an overall capacity to understand and integrate these skills in pursuit of a goal

Difficulties with Executive Functions are common among many students but can also be expressed by various conditions: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning issues, mood disorders, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Developmental Delays (DD) and Concussion (Morin, 2014) .

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse