EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

What are Executive Functions?

Executive functions are brain-based cognitive skills that facilitate critical thinking and self regulation. Executive skills impact goal setting, problem solving, and decision making. Executive functions include a set of related skills that help prioritize, regulate, and orchestrate an individual’s thoughts and behaviors. The executive functions help individuals manage their feelings and actions, monitor their behaviors, and attend to their experiences from the past and the present.

Executive functions help with self-directive, “what to do” skills such as starting tasks, paying attention, persevering, and remembering. They help with “how to” skills such as planning, organizing, shifting strategies, and managing time. Executive functions also help people “how to” manage their perceptions, thoughts, actions, and social interactions.

There are literally dozens of definitions for executive functions (Barkley 2006; Brown 2005; Dawson and Guare 2004). There seems to be a consensus that executive functions are viewed as orchestrating various brain functions that integrate a person’s perceptions, experiences, cognitions, and memories towards goal-directed behavior. We have chosen to modify the model described by Dawson and Guare (2004) as the basis for our descriptions of executive functions. We believe that their description is an excellent fit for understanding how children use executive functions in their day-to-day lives. It is important to note that this list of executive functions is neither comprehensive nor categorical. For example, specific skills seen in planning may also be described in organization. In addition, examples of executive dysfunctions, such as problems in completing homework, may involve many executive function skills, such as time management, perseverance, and sustained attention. Want to know more?

12 EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

We have identified 12 executive functions that will be useful in clarifying your child’s executive strengths and weaknesses:

Flexibility – The ability to be adaptable, improvise, and shift approaches to demands.
Goal-Directed Persistence --The ability to perservere on tasks that require sustained effort.
Metacognition – The ability to self-monitor and observe.
Organization – The ability to use a systematic approach for achieving goals.
Planning – The ability to develop a set of strategies in order to accomplish a goal.
Regulation of Affect – The ability to manage one’s feelings effectively for decision making and task completion.
Response Inhibition (self-control) – The ability to stop or delay an action rather than display impulsive behavior.
Social Thinking– The ability to respond appropriately to social conditions.
Sustained Attention – The ability to maintain one’s focus and attention in the presence of distractions.
Task Initiation (getting started) – The ability to initiate a task without procrastination.
Time Management (prioritization) – The ability to respond to things in a timely fashion.
Working Memory – The ability to remember something while performing an activity on this memory.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS, ADHD, LEARNING DISABILITIES, AND OTHER CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder, Learning Disabilities, and problems in social, emotional, and behavioral functioning often display impairments in their use of executive functions. They may display difficulties in getting started on tasks, sustaining attention and effort, following multi-step directions, keeping organized, and managing time effectively. It is important to note that many children will display executive strengths in certain areas and dysfunctions in others. These differences can often be explained by both biological and environmental factors.

Other childhood psychiatric conditions such as Autism, Aspergers Disorder, Anxiety Disorders and Tourettes Disorder may be significantly impacted by executive dysfunctions. For example, a child with Aspergers Disorder may be extremely rigid, with limited executive functioning skills in the area of flexibility and social thinking.

DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

Executive function skills develop throughout childhood and early adulthood. Children as young as eight months old are observed displaying consciously-controlled behaviors that reflect executive functions. As children get older, they display increasing skills in problem solving and maintaining thoughts and images in their minds. Demands for increasingly complex executive functions are developed throughout childhood, but problems may not be noticed until children reach the middle school years, when demands for organization and planning for the future become prominent.

Executive functions may be slow to develop in some individuals. Neuroscientists have indicated that the prefrontal portion of the cortex, the area most responsible for executive functions, is among the last brain regions to mature. In the past, it was often believed that brain-based capacities could not be changed. However, recent research linking a number of brain exercises to the development of new neural networks in the brain suggests that training can promote improvements in the activity of the brain. Want to know more?

IDENTIFYING YOUR CHILD'S EXECUTIVE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Helping your child to develop executive function skills is likely to involve a number of steps. First, it is important to assess their executive strengths and weaknesses. Discussion with your child’s teacher, pediatrician, or psychologist may be helpful. We have provided questionnaires that can help you identify some of your child’s executive strengths and weaknesses. In addition, there are a number of other well-developed scales, such as the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), Brown ADD Scales, Behavior Assessment System for Children – 2 (BASC-2), and neuropsychological tests, that a psychologist could administer to help you make this determination. Developing strategies that help your child better develop his/her executive strengths, as well as setting up environmental strategies that provide executive structure and control for your child, can be helpful.

ADULTS AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

Many adults find that they have executive dysfunctions. They may find that difficulties with executive function have an impact upon their relationships with family members, their efficiency in the workplace, and their management of financial resources. For more information about the impact of executive functions in adulthood, click here.