What Are Executive Functioning Skills? Your Essential Guide

ADHD is no light matter. 8.5% of children and 2.5% of adults have the condition. ADHD can make it harder for a child to learn essential skills and develop relationships with friends.

If your child has ADHD, they need a holistic education that hones all of their skills. You can start with executive functioning skills, but you shouldn’t rush into teaching your child just yet. You need to teach yourself about executive functioning first.

What are the most important executive functioning skills? How does your child use those skills, and how can you identify their weaknesses? What do you need to do to help your child learn?

Answer these questions and your child can get the most out of their education. Here is your comprehensive guide.

Adaptive Thinking

Adaptive thinking allows your child to adjust to situations as they occur. As they are completing a worksheet, they may come across a problem that they cannot solve right away.

They can adapt to the problem in a few ways. They can move on with the worksheet and then come back to the problem when they are done. They may ask someone for help or do research online so they have the knowledge to finish the problem.

Adaptive thinking can be a struggle for children with ADHD. Once they hit an obstacle, they may let their minds wander or they may become confused.

There is no one therapy that helps all children with their adaptive thinking. Academic tutoring can give your child more resources to solve problems, like online textbooks and worksheets.

When your child asks you a question about their schoolwork, don’t just give them the answer. Explain to them how you would solve the problem. This encourages them to think through an issue in a new way and adapt to the challenge at hand.

Working Memory

Working memory lets your child use what they have learned without losing track of their assignment. When your child learns about a step-by-step drill and executes each step, they are using their working memory.

Working memory is short-term, yet it is very important. It lets your child follow instructions and get their work done on time.

A 2020 study found that 75%-81% of children with ADHD have problems with their working memory. However, the issues varied wildly. Some children struggled with remembering where objects were, while other children struggled with remembering words.

Your child may encounter a few other problems with their working memory. They have difficulty processing the information they hear, or they may have difficulty remembering the information. While they are completing an assignment, they may skip a step or deviate from the instructions.

Watch your child as they complete assignments and figure out what their problem is. You can play memory games with your child to see if they can remember things properly.

Your child can make checklists so they accomplish each step. They should itemize everything, including doing research for assignments and reviewing their work.

Crystallized Intelligence

Crystallized intelligence is your child’s ability to use skills they acquired previously. When your child memorizes a poem and recites it, they are using their crystallized intelligence.

Crystallized intelligence overlaps with working memory in that both involve recalling previously learned information. However, crystallized intelligence can be long-term. Your child may recall something they learned years ago, like a relative’s name or a vocabulary word.

Crystallized intelligence can fill in gaps that working memory leaves. It also helps your child build their skills over time.

Your child can improve their intelligence in a few ways. They can use flashcards, audio tracks, and visual aids to remember details.

Your child should take notes by hand instead of typing them. A 2021 study found that students learning how to read retained information better when they wrote their notes with a pen and paper.

Getting a clear head can help your child calm down and organize their memories. They can take a deep breath whenever they are feeling frustrated or struggling to recall something.

Time Management

Time management is about more than getting things done on time. It includes the ability to organize a schedule and prioritize different assignments. Your child should get an assignment due on Thursday done before an assignment due on Friday.

At the same time, a child with good management skills will not overexert themselves. They will take breaks, especially when they are done with all of their work. They can say no to responsibilities they don’t need to do and ask for extensions if they need them.

Your child can use different resources for time management. They can look at a written schedule and a clock. They can also talk to you or their teacher about when they need to get things done.

The easiest way for your child to manage their time is to make a schedule. They should figure out when they will get their work done and how much time they need for each assignment.

Let your child take the lead on their schedule. This gives them a sense of control over their work. If they need help, they should go to their teachers or ask for academic counseling.

If your child is running behind on an assignment, don’t interrupt them abruptly. Give them a warning about how much time they have and encourage them to do the best job possible. If they run out of time, you should encourage them to move on to the next activity.

Self-Monitoring

When your child is self-monitoring, they are assessing how they are doing on a certain task. When they are reading over a paper they wrote, they may check their work for typos. They may also rewrite sentences so they are clearer or contain more accurate information.

Self-monitoring also deals with emotions and behavior. A child who monitors themselves refrains from acting out.

Self-monitoring is one of the most difficult executive functioning skills for students. Many children struggle with it because they don’t have the emotional maturity to assess their performance. It can be hard for children to regulate intense emotions, leading them to cry or throw tantrums.

Your child can learn about revising their work through academic tutoring. They can learn how to check their work for errors, including with tools like calculators.

Tell your child that is okay if they make mistakes. You should point out how they use mistakes to learn and become a more skilled student. You can also talk about mistakes you have made to comfort them.

Impulse Control

Impulse control is another tricky executive functioning skill. Your child may have an impulse to do something bad, like stealing something. They may also feel the impulse to stop doing work before they are done.

Impulse control means they recognize their desires but decline to do a harmful action. It can include channeling their emotions into a positive outlet. If they are feeling upset, they can punch a pillow instead of another person.

It takes time for children to learn impulse control. For children with ADHD, it may take even longer, as impulsivity is a main symptom of ADHD.

Your child should take a few moments to calm down before they speak. Some people find putting a finger over their mouth to be helpful. Other people envision locking their mouths with a key so they don’t speak out of turn.

Establishing clear household rules can help your child avoid impulsive activities. You can write the household rules down on a sheet of paper and give the paper to your child.

You should also implement different kinds of punishments. If your child does something wrong, you should give them a verbal warning. If they do the same thing again, you should then put them in a timeout.

Emotional Control

Emotional control is related to impulse control. But it does not necessarily involve destructive or harmful actions.

Your child may need to control their displays of emotion so they don’t distract other people. When they are feeling sad or anxious, they should seek help instead of bottling their emotions inside.

It is okay for your child to feel intense emotions. The key to emotional control is to channel those emotions into a positive outlet.

If they are feeling angry about an assignment, they should try to find a way to end the problem. They can ask for help, look for answers in a textbook, or do another activity first.

Putting words on emotions can make them easier to manage. Your child can do a few activities to increase their emotional vocabulary like making a list of their feelings. The more words they use, the more ways they can describe their emotions.

Organization

Organization is a skill that affects all other executive functioning skills. If your child does not keep their things organized, it is hard for them to do any work at all.

Your child should try to find their own way to organize their work. Some children like to color-code things. Math assignments can be blue while geography assignments can be green.

Other children like to label things. You can give your child labeled bins and folders. They can put their assignments into each bin when they’re done.

Your child can also organize different spaces for themselves. They can do their homework in one space and then relax in another space. Having a separate room to do their work can cue their brain when they visit the room, encouraging them to stay focused.

Keeping a stack of binders or papers on their desk can create too much clutter. Your child may need a second desk to spread their work out or put their binders on a few shelves.

They should also adjust their organization over time. They should get rid of papers that are no longer relevant to them. They can digitize documents they may use later as well.

Planning

Planning is another skill that affects other executive functioning abilities. It overlaps with adaptive thinking and time management, but it can involve long-term projects.

Your child needs to make a plan for how they do a final project like an oral presentation or a book report. They need to figure out how and when they should do research.

They then need to pick an argument they want to make and write their first draft of their project. Once they’re done, they can check their work and make subsequent drafts.

Your child does not have to have everything planned out. They should leave a little wiggle room for themselves so they can do adaptive thinking if they encounter obstacles. But they should have a sense of where their project is going and what they need to do to fulfill their assignment.

If your teacher gave your child a rubric for the assignment, your child should keep the rubric with them. They can also make a checklist for each task they need to do and assign themselves grades for how they are doing.

Academic coaching can help your child develop their planning skills over time. Your child can develop a plan with a coach and then check in with them to see how the plan is going.

The Most Important Executive Functioning Skills

Executive functioning skills help your child manage their behavior, emotions, and knowledge. The most common skills include adaptive thinking, working memory, and emotional regulation. But your child should also learn how to manage their time and plan assignments out.

Children with ADHD can become inattentive and lose control of their impulses. But you can help your child by creating a good environment for learning. Encourage them to stay focused and to follow the schedule they have created.

You should also bring your child to ADHD counselors. Peak Academic Coaching provides great resources for students with ADHD. Contact us today.