Executive Functions Help Children Succeed

Executive Functions help children succeed academically and in life. They may even be a better predictor of success than IQ.

If you look at what predicts how well children will do later in school, more and more evidence is showing that executive functions — working memory and inhibition — actually predict success better than IQ tests.

– Adele Diamond

What are the Executive Functions?

Executive functions are a set of mental skills that act as the brain’s management system. They are controlled by the prefrontal cortex and help you plan, focus, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. They plan how resources will be used, what the priorities are, what direction to take in the long term, and what to do when there is conflict. The executive functions take into account the big picture and keep the future in mind.

Executive Functions can be categorised into behaviour-based skills and cognitive-based skills.

Doing Skills – behaviour-based:

• Response inhibition
• Emotional control
• Sustained attention
• Task initiation
• Flexibility
• Goal-directed persistence

Thinking Skills – cognitive-based:

• Planning
• Organisation
• Time management
• Working memory
• Metacognition

Breakdown of the Executive Functions

Response Inhibition (RI)

Response inhibition is the capacity to think before acting. When children have weaknesses in RI, they:

• Act without thinking
• Interrupt others
• Blurt out answers
• Talk too loudly
• Act inappropriately

Emotional Control (EC)

Emotional control is the ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals and complete tasks. When children have weaknesses in EC, they:

• Over/under react
• Are easily overwhelmed
• Have low frustration tolerance

Flexibility

Flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing conditions. Children with weaknesses in flexibility:

• Are upset by changes
• Have difficulty transitioning between activities
• Have difficulty coming up with multiple solutions

Working Memory (WM)

Working memory is the ability to hold and manipulate information in memory when performing complex tasks. Children with WM weaknesses:

• Forget directions
• Get lost in a problem
• Work ineffectively

Task Initiation (TI)

Task initiation is the ability to begin tasks in a timely manner. When children have weaknesses in TI, they:

• Put off doing the work
• Hand in assignments late
• Are disruptive in class

Sustained Attention (SA)

Sustained attention is the capacity to maintain focus in spite of distractions, tiredness and/or boredom. SA weakness include:

• Not being able to do the work
• Being unable to complete multiple assignments at once

Planning

Planning is the ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or complete a task. When children have planning weaknesses:

• Work does not get done
• Parts of assignments are completed out of order
• They miss steps in the assignment

Organisation

Organisation is the ability to create and maintain a system to keep track of information. Weakness in this area include:

• Being unable to find necessary materials for a task
• Having messy books

Time Management (TM)

Time management is the ability to handle time effectively. Weaknesses in TM include:

• Wasting time in class
• Being late for class
• Poor estimate of time
• Failing to meet deadlines

Goal-Directed Persistence (GDP)

Goal-directed persistence is the capacity to follow through to the completion of a goal. GDP weaknesses include:

• Failure to meet goals
• Tendency to quit easily
• Frequently changing plans

Metacognition

Metacognition is the ability to monitor, and be reflective about one’s own thinking. Metacognition weaknesses include:

• Making the same mistakes over and over
• Lacking insight
• Poor problem-solving skills

Executive Functions and the Brain

The executive functions are controlled by the pre-frontal cortex which is one of the last parts of the brain to become fully mature. Neuroscientists agree that brain development continues up until the mid to late 20s. Even though the pre-frontal cortex develops late, we can still help children build their executive functions from as early as their pre-school years.

What Happens When a Child has Weak Executive Functions?

What does it look like when children have weak executive functions? Children with poor executive functioning:

• act without thinking
• interrupt others
• give up easily
• are overwhelmed by large assignments
• talk too loudly
• have difficulty adapting
• do not notice impact of their behaviour on others
• have trouble calming down
• have difficulty transitioning between activities
• cannot problem solve
• possess low frustration tolerance
• cannot follow classroom routine

Helping Children Develop their Executive Functions

When it comes to developing executive functions, the earlier we start, the better it is for our children. What can we do to improve our children’s executive functions?

• Build executive functions directly – train them, challenge them, and practice, practice, practice!
• Improve conditions that impair executive functions – for example, stress and lack of sleep can negatively impact executive functioning. Activities that improve these conditions, such as meditation and exercise, reduce stress and improve sleep which, in turn, improve executive functioning.
• Reduce the demands on executive functions through scaffolding.

What is Scaffolding?

Scaffolding is a method of teaching that offers temporary support to students as they learn new concepts. As students gain confidence and mastery of the skill, the teacher gradually removes the support, similar to the way construction scaffolding is taken down after a building is stable.

The following outline is an example process of how scaffolding might be used:

• Assess the child’s current ability: Start with what the learner can already do alone.
• Break down the tasks: Divide complex projects into small, manageable chunks.
• Model the process: Demonstrate the correct way to solve a problem first.
• Offer temporary tools: Use visual aids, cue cards, or templates to guide the learner’s thought process.
• Reduce support gradually: Reduce help as the learner builds competence and confidence.

How scaffolding can be used to help learners build executive functions:

• Working Memory: Provide checklists, written steps, or visual schedules.
• Inhibitory Control: Use timers, silent workspaces, or explicit “stop and think” prompts.
• Cognitive Flexibility: Offer transition warnings and step-by-step guides for changing tasks.

Activities and Programs that Improve Executive Functioning

• Physical activity (especially aerobic exercise) that include character development and cognitive engagement:
  • traditional martial arts that emphasise self-control, discipline, and character development.
  • exercise plus mindfulness, for example, yoga.
  • exercise that require thinking, for example, soccer.
• Computerised training with a mentoring component, for example, Cogmed.
• Certain school curricula, for example, Tools of the Mind, Montessori.
• Games – playing board games, card games, and imaginary play.

Martial Arts

It is important to make the distinction that many modern martial arts, which focus on martial arts as a competitive sports, have been associated with more juvenile delinquency and aggressiveness, and decreased self-esteem and social ability (in a study of adolescent juvenile delinquents). It is the traditional martial arts, which emphasise qualities such as repect, humility, responsibility, perseverence, honour, and physical conditioning, that helped reduce aggression and anxiety and improve social ability and self-esteem.

Computerised Training

We should also note that in a study on the effects of computerised training (using a program called CogMed®) on executive function, de Jong found it was the mentoring that appeared to account for the benefits more than the computerised training per se.

Taking this into consideration, another training program which offers one-to-one mentoring is the BrainRx program from myBrainLab.

School Curricula

Features of Tools of the Mind and the Montessori Method which improve Executive Functions:

• They challenge children to improve, thereby challenging their executive functions as well.
• They employ scaffolding techniques, and do not embarrass the children.
• Utilise hands on learning which give each child:
  • individual attention
  • dynamic assessment
  • individual pacing and individualised instruction
• They make it clear that each child will succeed.
• They foster community and consideration for others.
• They have children teaching and helping one another.
• They do not provide external rewards.
• They provide joyful, more relaxed learning environemnt with less stress.
• They provide a strong emphasis on oral language.

Other curricula that could also be worth exploring further since they share similar goals and concepts:

• MindUP – a curriculum with mindfulness
• SMARTS – an online executive function curriculum

Games

I think that we should be focusing on helping children get better at these skills early. I’m hesitant to use the word teach, because when you say teach, people have this image of children sitting like little college students in their seats with somebody lecturing at them.

– Adele Diamond

Helping children to develop their executive functions should involve everyday activities in school and at home in playful and fun ways. Games are always a great way to make anything fun.

• Imaginary play
• Story telling
• Songs with movements
• Playground activities
• Organised sports
• Board games
• Card games, such as, concentration, old maid, go fish, happy families.
• Party games, such as, musical statues, musical chairs, Simon says, hide and seek.

Helping Children at Home

Response Inhibition:

• Use the ‘stop and think’ sign or any other predecided gesture before answering questions.
• Give children think time after calling them and come back to them for their response.
• Minimise things that create distractions, like windows.
• Keep stationery to the bare minimum.

Flexibility and Transitioning:

• Clearly segregate different topics.
• Give enough time and provide a signal for changes to a new topic. Be clear when moving to another topic.
• Pause between information to allow your child to digest the information, store it and prepare to receive new information.
• Change seats to signal a transition.
• Practise putting books away and taking out new ones to start something new.

Sustained Attention:

• Make your time with your child more interesting and challenging.
• Allow frequent breaks.
• Rotate subjects.
• Maintain a good pace with frequent checks.
• Encourage active participation from your child (you should not be the one talking all the time).
• Check on on your child regularly.
• Teach your children to ‘self talk’.

Goal-Directed Persistence:

• Check for understanding, do not assume they know.
• Specifically outline all the steps and emphasise each step.
• Number the steps and write it out.
• Have your child practise the activity with you before you leave them to finish the task on their own.
• Just because they started on the right task don’t assume that they will continue it to the end.

Strategies for Planning:

• Use visual timing strategies, for example, a sand hour glass.
• Use mobile technology, for example, smart reminders and colour-coded google calendars.
• Use graphic organisers, for example, a flow-chart.

More Resources:

• Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolencence – Harvard
• Executive Function 101