What is executive dysfunction, you may ask?

When children are at school their executive functioning skills are well tested and greatly refined. A lack of these skills is an indication to teachers of a child’s likely success in the classroom, or possible lack thereof.

It is a term for a range of cognitive, emotional and behavioural difficulties that affect the way we concentrate, plan, organise, finish tasks and activities, as well as a whole lot more. Executive functioning skills help us lead productive and organised lives – and make life easier to live, in general.

Executive dysfunction will often go hand in hand with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

This explains the reason so many children forget to take homework or do homework, run out of time, or are disorganised when they need to finish a task. It may also explain why ADHD medications do not work for some children.

Executive functioning comprises the skills that involve thinking, reasoning – the actual ‘doing’ part of learning, or how children behave.

The skills required for cognition – which is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses – include:

• Working memory – this is working with information at hand and using any learning or past experiences that may come in handy at the right time. For example, a child finishes a task but then needs to remember to hand it in on time.
• Organisation – using the time and equipment available to complete the task. This is particularly true of a child who moves from the junior to the intermediate phase, or from the intermediate to the high-school phase.
• Time management – working out the time required to finish a task and to hand it in on time.
• Metacognition – being able to self-identify individual strengths and areas that are weak. With limited metacognition, the child may not be able to identify areas of difficulty so is not able to work on those challenges.
• Planning/Prioritising – being able to create a roadmap to reach a goal or complete a task.
• Emotional control – the ability to control emotions and manage them when in social situations.
• Response inhibition – thinking before acting out. The child needs to stop, think and then go.
• Initiative – knowing what is important and the ability to complete the main tasks first in schoolwork, and in private life.
• Persistence – the ability to keep trying, no matter what.
• Flexibility – being able to alter behaviour if something unforeseen changes.

Capulum College opens doors to children with these difficulties – learners who need to be in small classes, where teachers can support and help as much as is required. A full-scale educational assessment, and a sensory profile from our occupational therapist are a requirement.

We are not meant to be perfect – we are meant to be whole.

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The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude webinar, “Teaching Executive Functions to Children with ADHD: A Course for Teachers (and Parents)” by Karen Huberty, M.Ed., Maureen Bechard, M.S., which broadcast live on August 13, 2019.