Executive Functioning in Gifted Learners

Executive Functioning and Gifted Learners:

Some Tips on the Promotion and Instruction of Organizational Skills

Compiled by

Rachel Amanda Sugarman, Gifted and Talented Teacher

“Executive function (EF) and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. Just as an air traffic control system at a busy airport safely manages the arrivals and departures of many aircraft on multiple runways, the brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritize tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses.” - Center on the Developing Child: Harvard University

“Many gifted children find learning and school to initially be very easy, sometimes even boring. When it comes to developing executive functioning skills, though, there really is a downside to school being “too easy.” If you are able to easily understand your lessons, memorize the key details, and recall them later, there is no need to develop a set of study skills. This phenomenon isn’t limited to studying either. If a student can memorize all of their assignments throughout grade school and never needs to write them down, he/she never has the opportunity to learn and practice assignment management.” - Amanda Vogel: Vice President of Nurturing Wisdom Tutoring and the director of Nurturing Wisdom Academy

Various EF skills:

• inhibition of impulses, stopping to choose an appropriate response

• previewing likely consequences of action (both short- and long-term)

• holding and manipulating information in working memory

• sustaining attention despite distraction or fatigue

• planning, both short- and long-term

• saliency determination, figuring out which details are important

• task initiation – getting started on a chosen task

• depth of processing, choosing a level that is not too superficial or too consuming

• tempo control, maintaining an appropriate speed and rhythm for work

• development of automaticity, making a skill routine so it takes no conscious effort

• satisfaction, perceiving and deriving pleasure from reinforcement

• organization, both internal (thoughts) and external (materials)

• time management – predicting how long things will take, planning, and acting

• flexibility – adapting strategies or plans in response to mistakes or new information

• self-monitoring – observing one’s own performance and comparing it to standards

• emotional self-regulation – being aware of and managing feelings

• metacognition – being aware of one’s own thought processes

Ideas for parents and educators:

• • Understand why gifted children are often organizationally challenged

  • Encourage child to develop and practice Self Advocacy

  • Do not implement too many ideas at once, one or two at a time

  • Keep it VISUAL. Use schedules, lists, and charts. Make your schedule as detailed as it needs to be for your child/student. Use color-coding.

  • Timers and alarms can be helpful

  • Do purchase an appointment book, agenda or calendar

  • Employ technology - icalendar, organizational apps, alarm clocks, etc

  • Become a partner and coach to the child/student; look to role models and mentors

  • Emphasize the importance of creative problem solving. View the process as a creative, enriching adventure that fully involves the child

  • Offer direct praise and encourage effort over product, especially when starting

  • Be explicit when teaching the process of organizing a complex task and new habits and strategies become an integrated piece of that process. Embrace patience. This is a long process, so settle in for the long haul!

  • Focus on over-learning so the desired behaviors become automatic. It takes about 21 days to form and establish a new habit. Habits do not “live” in the executive functions (Students may still need reminders to initiate the routine)

  • Make your expectations clear

  • Help them conceptualize and visualize TIME

  • Embrace the child’s gifts and intensities and help the child understand them; Help students to use their strengths to support their EF challenges.

  • Consider: When does the child learn best? What time is best for test taking, intense study and homework?

Great Links:

http://nurturingwisdom.com/is-executive-functioning-the-missing-link-for-many-gifted-students/

http://expertbeacon.com/parents-can-help-their-gifted-students-develop-executive-functions/#do1

http://www.hkage.org.hk/files/parents/publications/p2e2_talk_ppt_b5.pdf

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10523.aspx

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.cagifted.org/resource/resmgr/Conference_2014/2014_CAG_Hansen_Gifted&_LaZy.pdf