It is basketball season, and that means coaches around the country are trying to get their teams to play as well as they can in order to be victorious. From youth leagues to the pros, coaches are running athletic drills, developing skills, and teaching strategies. If a team is going to see any success, each player needs to be personally skilled, as well as know how to be a good teammate. For a team to play smoothly together and be victorious, each player needs to function well.
The same goes for our students’ brains! Yes, you read that right. The prefrontal cortex of a young child is like a developing basketball team, with different players with different roles. The five main players include working memory, planning, self-monitoring, self-control, and cognitive flexibility. If these “teammates” do well together, a child will most likely see a lot of success in school. If even one of these players struggles, a student will have a more difficult path to success.
When I interviewed Peg Dawson, a renowned expert on executive functioning and co-author of Smart but Scattered, she shared one of her favorite definitions of these skills: “Executive skills are the skills you need to get things done.” This simple yet profound definition captures the essence of how these skills function in the lives of our students. It’s a concept worth keeping in mind as we explore how to nurture these critical skills in children.
Introducing the EF Skills!
What is this team of prefrontal cortex players called? The Executive Functioning Skills! You may hear this term thrown around a lot in your educational circles. Whenever teachers have a student struggling with organization or forgetfulness or an inability to focus, the go-to these days is often “We need to help this child with their executive functioning!” And this declaration may totally be true, but what does this mean? How are we to help them with their EF?
First off, let’s introduce you to each player of the EF Skills team:
- Working Memory: This player has the ability to hold and utilize information in a student’s mind for short periods, such as remembering instructions or solving problems.
- Planning: This player is able to set goals, develop strategies, prioritize tasks, and manage time effectively.
- Self-Monitoring: This player has the ability to evaluate a student’s performance, recognize mistakes, and adjust their behavior as needed.
- Self-Control: This player is able to resist impulses, stay focused, and regulate their actions and emotions.
- Cognitive Flexibility: This player can adapt to changing rules, perspectives, or situations, and think creatively to solve problems.
Dr. Dawson’s concise definition—“Executive skills are the skills you need to get things done”—serves as a guiding principle throughout this discussion, reminding us of the practical importance of these abilities.
And now that you know the major players of EF, let’s think about what they have the ability to do if they are functioning well together. These players’ skills, when working effectively, enable our students to:
- Organize their thoughts
- Regulate their emotions
- Control their behaviors
These abilities assist our students in achieving the goals they are striving for, both in school and outside of the classroom!
Executive Functioning Struggles
As educators, we are tasked with the job of helping our students achieve their goals in the classroom. And as an educator, you can probably relate to students who are having difficulty developing their prefrontal cortex team. In fact, you can probably identify students who have some players from their prefrontal cortex team who are struggling greatly. You are not alone! Again, how are we to “help this child with their executive functioning”?
Before we answer this crucial question, let’s first explore why students can struggle with their executive functioning skills:
- Immaturity. It is important to note that humans do not fully develop their prefrontal cortex until the age of twenty-five. TWENTY-FIVE. So be patient with your young students! They still have some distance between the full maturity of their EF skills and the present.
- Not all brains are the same. Students have neurological differences, and if a student has ADHD or autism, their development of EF can be hindered.
- Some students are stressed out. Consistent stress or anxiety can overwhelm the brain, making it harder to plan, focus, or control emotions.
- Lack of practice. Students in overly structured or unstructured environments either have too much support or too little help. This hinders EF growth by not providing opportunities for students to practice EF skills.
- Overstimulation. Students with excessive screen time, jam-packed schedules, and/or lack of sleep struggle with focus and working memory.
- Emotionally drained. Students who struggle managing their emotions, have difficulty with social situations, and/or have a low self-esteem mindset have less capacity to handle EF tasks.
Dr. Dawson also emphasized the importance of manageable interventions. She noted, “The perfect intervention to support executive skills is one that takes no more than 5 minutes a day and that you’re willing to do forever (or as long as it takes).” This insight is invaluable as we consider how to support our students effectively.
As teachers, we can probably pinpoint why EF skills are important for the development of the whole child. As far as academic development is concerned, the importance of organization, time management, focus and attention, and problem-solving skills are crucial in being “victorious” in the classroom. Impulse control, perspective-taking, and conflict resolution are all EF skills vital to the health of social development. And lastly, emotional development needs a healthy dose of self-regulation, independence, confidence, and stress-coping mechanisms in order to be successful.
Executive Functioning Practice
But this all brings us back to the very important question – How can we help a student with the development of their executive functioning? Just as a basketball team needs practice in order to become better and achieve success, so must students and their frontal cortices need practice in order to find victory in the classroom. Here are the first important steps a teacher should take in helping their students develop their EF skills:
- Specifically Teach and Model EF Skills
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- Show your students strategies like creating to-do lists, how to break tasks into smaller steps, and how to manage time effectively. Have students express how they would plan, organize, or solve problems before doing so.
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- Maintain Clear Routines and Structures
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- Having predictable, consistent routines helps students be able to practice their planning and organization. Also, visual schedules, timers (used in a way as not to induce more stress), and consistent reminders provide students with support as they develop their internal skills.
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- Create a Supportive Environment
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- Provide tools that assist students with their organization, and provide scaffolding such as breaking more complex tasks into more manageable parts, and gradually reduce support as your student increases skills.
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- Cultivate Self-Regulation
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- Provide many opportunities for reflection. Help students evaluate their own performance, and help them set goals. Also provide students with methods on how to calm down and maintain a sense of calm.
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- Provide EF-Focused Activities
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- Have your students participate in memory games, puzzles, and problem-solving challenges in order to build their working memory, focus, and cognitive abilities. Include group activities in your classroom schedule where students need to practice planning, collaborating, and adapting to changes.
EF Tips for Parents
If you are a parent reading this article, or a teacher reading this article who is also a parent, then here are a few quick steps to start building EF skills at home:
- Create a consistent daily schedule. Make sure regular, daily tasks such as homework, chores, and bedtime have their set times and routines.
- Teach and model for your child how to approach tasks. Instead of directives such as “Clean your room,” instead provide specific instructions such as “Make your bed, clean up your floor, and put your dirty clothes in the hamper.”
- Show your child how to handle frustrations and distractions. Encourage reflection of their actions, and use positive reinforcement to praise behaviors that align with EF skill development.
Remember the first half of the title of this article? Executive Functioning 101. The information I have provided you is an introduction to executive functioning and how educators can start helping build EF skills in our students. But there is so much more to learn out there about both the facts of EF, as well as all the research that has gone into exploring the many facets of the development of executive functioning in children.
Hopefully you now feel more knowledgeable and more prepared to help your students develop their EF skills. Dr. Dawson’s concise definition—“Executive skills are the skills you need to get things done”—is a thought worth repeating as you help your students’ frontal cortex players find victory in their classroom!
EF Resources “Wishlist” for Educators
Below are a few resources that you can investigate (PERHAPS OVER YOUR WINTER BREAK) to help you become a proficient EF educator in your school building:
- Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary “Executive Skills” Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential (Second Edition) by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
- Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (Second Edition) edited by Lynn Meltzer
- The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
- SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: SMARTS Executive Function
- The Edvocate: The Edvocate – Executive Functioning Tools
