If you were to walk up to anyone on the street and ask them what executive functioning is, you could be met with many different responses. According to the Hill Learning Center, which specializes in furthering the education of students with learning differences, executive functioning skills facilitate the behaviors required to plan and achieve goals. This includes abilities like planning, organization, self-regulation, working memory, and attention. These can all contribute to a student’s success in and out of the classroom.
Here is a breakdown of key executive functioning skills:
Planning and Organization:
The ability to set goals, break down tasks, and organize materials and time.
Self-Regulation:
Managing emotions, impulses, and behaviors, including the ability to delay gratification and resist distractions.
Working Memory:
Holding information in mind long enough to complete a task, such as remembering instructions or a sequence of events.
Attention and Focus:
Maintaining focus on a task, filtering out distractions, and sustaining attention for an appropriate duration.
Cognitive Flexibility:
The ability to adapt to changing situations, switch between tasks, and think flexibly.
Task Initiation:
The ability to start tasks without procrastination or delay, even when they are challenging or uninteresting.
Problem-Solving:
Identifying problems, generating solutions, and implementing strategies to overcome challenges.
Time Management:
Understanding the passage of time, estimating how long tasks will take, and managing time effectively.
Emotional Control:
Recognizing and managing emotions and responding appropriately in various situations.
Learning these skills as a teen is vital as most teens are preparing for high school, which means their first job is often on the horizon. They also need these skills to manage their time more effectively. Everyday activities, such as getting up and ready for school, require executive functioning skills. Your students must know how long it takes them to be ready to leave for school in the morning. Then, they must plan what time to wake up, how long to shower, what they will wear, what to have for breakfast, and how long it will take them to get to the bus stop or walk to school. Not to mention making sure their homework is done and they get the needed amount of rest. As adults, we are so used to doing things daily that we don’t realize how much decision-making and planning goes into an ordinary day.
Students can be easily overwhelmed if they do not have the skill set to plan and make time for their school day. And that overwhelm can turn to shutting down or giving up when things get too tricky. To prepare for life, they must know how to manage themselves daily. This can be done through the use of checklists, using a planner, and establishing daily routines. Breaking tasks into smaller steps is a helpful way for a student to feel successful as they work through projects. Writing important dates into a planner can help them remember due dates and assessments. Having a daily routine helps things to become more familiar and second nature. As Benjamin Franklin said, “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”
Try some of the following strategies when working with your students:
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