What are executive function skills? Executive functions (EFs) are the group of complex mental processes and cognitive abilities required to plan and direct activities; they help us to regulate our behaviour, set goals and meet them, and balance our demands and desires such as our wants, needs and have-to haves. Everyone has EF strengths and weaknesses. The more you know about your own executive skills profile, the more you can take advantage of your natural strengths and strengthen your weaker skills. What are the individual EF skills?
• Response inhibition • Working memory • Emotional control • Flexibility • Sustained attention • Task initiation • Planning / prioritisation • Organisation
• Time management • Goal directed persistence • Metacognition Why are they even more relevant now than they are usually? During this period of remote learning, EF skills may become even more strained or exposed than usual for a number of reasons. In addition, because we are all working from home, you may get insights into your teenager – their behaviour and work habits - that you do not normally get, some of which may surprise you:
➢ Your son/daughter may have melt downs (response inhibition / emotional control) about work much more readily than they might usually do. This may partly be because they are at home, and they are not trying to ‘hold it together’ in front of their class as they would normally. Also, for some, the demands of remote learning will be trying. ➢ During the normal school day, pupils receive a lot of discrete assistance from members of the school community (with task initiation, planning/ prioritisation, organisation, time management) to help them ‘keep on track’; when this scaffolding is not there, your teenager may find it more difficult to organise themselves.
➢ Your teenager might have a low awareness of themselves, their ability to self-monitor and to problem-solve (metacognition). If you are now working from home, you may be more aware of this than before. ➢ Moving between ‘lessons’, be it zoom, self-study, or a different digital platform may at times, be challenging for your teenager (flexibility). ➢ Without the stimulation of being in school, with a teacher teaching and classmates interacting, your teenager may find it difficult to maintain their level of engagement (sustained attention). ➢ Your teenager may struggle to retain information or instructions in their minds, whilst performing tasks (working memory). ➢ Or your teenager may find it hard to complete a task that they are not particularly interested in (goal directed persistence) EF Definitions EK Skill Response inhibition
Definition The capacity to think before you act – the ability to resist urge to say or do something, allowing you time to evaluate the situation and how your behaviour may impact
Examples • Acting before you think. • Not thinking about the consequences
Working memory
Emotional control
Flexibility
Sustained attention
Task initiation
Planning / prioritisation
Organisation
• Difficulty keeping track of possessions and where you have put them • Difficulty remembering what you have to do • Not learning from experience The ability to manage • Having a short fuse emotions or control and • Getting easily frustrated direct behaviour • Getting stressed out The ability to change and • Finding it hard to ‘go with adapt plans in the face of the flow’ obstacles, new information, • Getting upset if things do set-backs. not go according to pan • Difficulty switching easily between tasks The capacity to keep paying • Difficulty completing tasks attention despite feeling without being hassled by tired, bored, distracted parents to finish it • Starting something and not finishing it The ability to begin projects • Finding it hard to stop doing without undue something that interests procrastination you in order to prioritise work (playing Fortnite / other games) • Finding it hard to get straight on with tasks The ability to plan in order to • Difficulty knowing how / reach a desire goal, and where to start on a task making decision about what • Difficulty in having an idea is important to achieve it of the steps you need to go through to complete a project The ability to create and • Messy backpacks maintain systems to keep • Disorganised notes track of information or • Difficulty finding things materials The ability to hold information in the memory while performing complex tasks. It includes the ability to use past experience to apply now or in the future.
Time management
Goal directed persistence Metacognition
Having a concept of time and • Being late for lessons the capacity to estimate how • Difficulty finishing much time something will schoolwork in a timely take; and the capacity to manner meet deadlines • Difficulty maintaining routines and deadlines The capacity to have a goal • Difficulty with persisting at and to follow through to the something completion of the goal • Giving up on things The ability to stand back and • Difficulty with look at yourself and how you understanding your own operate / problem solve – learning behaviour and being able to ask yourself: your own learning journey. ‘how am I doing?’ (self-talk) • Difficulty planning, evaluating and regulating your thoughts
As already highlighted, everyone has strengths and weaknesses in any number of these EF skills. It is also important to know that our EF skills continue to develop into our 20s, and there are things that we can do to improve them. It is perfectly normal to be better at some EF skills than others. It becomes difficult when some or all of these skills are sufficiently challenging for an individual that they begin to dominate life. This series of Parent Guides will provide information about how your teenager can learn to help themselves (possibly with your support) with each one of these skills. Please also feel free to email me (marsdenz@kesw.org) if you would like me to do any 1:1 input with your son/daughter to help them get back on track with any of these skills. Kind regards, Zoe Marsden Head of Learning Support and SENCO - King Edward's Witley