How Executive Function Training Promotes Academic Performance

Education. It is one of the most important things that you can give a child. Having the proper education can be the difference between a child reaching their maximum potential and working a minimum wage job.

In order to do this properly, children need to keep up with the grade level they should be performing at in each of their subjects. Many parents think their children are on this pace in every subject.

However, about half of all children are at least one grade level behind in at least one subject. Executive function training can be a great way to get the kids who are behind back on track.

Not only can that be a great way to teach children life skills, but children can also use these skills to improve their academic performance.

So, what are executive function skills? What kind of impact do they play on a child’s education?

This is your guide.

What Are Executive Function Skills?

Before we can talk about how these skills improve a child’s academic performance, you need to understand what exactly these skills are. Essentially, these are life skills that not only help children academically but can also play a big role in the real world.

Think about skills that you use to accomplish daily tasks in your life.

Does being organized help you get things done faster? Does having a good memory allow you to be less stressed about keeping track of certain items? How about having strong self-discipline to accomplish goals and to help deal with difficult people?

It is these types of things that allow you to succeed as an adult. However, these are not skills that are normally taught overnight.

These are skills you learn from the environment around you and having the right mentors in place to help you discover these skills. What this means is that while some students may be able to tap into these skills more naturally than others, the remaining students may need a nudge to discover the benefits so these executive function skills.

So, what type of skills can help them academically? Let’s look at a few.

Improving Memory

One of the best executive function skills that you can have is a good memory. The reason for this is that you do not have to spend as much time memorizing certain items or certain tasks that you will have to know later. On top of this, it can allow you to skip ahead to your next task and come back to the original task later.

When it comes to academics, the main time that a good memory helps a child is when they are taking exams. Children have to study a lot of new information at one time for big exams such as finals or even the SATs. They would not have to spend as much time or as much stress doing this if they build up their memory.

Something important that people should know here is that the brain is capable of storing more memories than we might believe. The average human brain can store up to 2.5 million gigabytes of digital memory.

That may sound like a lot but certain memories have to be collected in a timely matter. The reason for this is that the human brain is collecting so much data at one time that a lot of it can end up going in one ear and out the other.

What we mean by this is that humans typically forget half of the new information that they learn in an hour. If you expand that timeframe to one day, that number goes up to 70%.

Essentially, if a child improves their memory and is aware of the timeframe in which people can forget certain pieces of information, it can put them at an advantage academically and in the long term.

Being More Organized

The next executive function that can benefit kids is being more organized. This plays into preparation for certain academic tasks like studying for tests and taking tests.

Organization can help kids get tasks done faster and it connects with memory skills because it makes it easier for them to know what goes where.

For example, let’s say that a child is having an Algebra test on the first three chapters they learned in their textbook. If they go back and review each section of their notes, being organized can help that child break up their studying into sections.

An organized child may start by writing Chapter 1 on the first page of their notes. Then, underneath it, use a subheading for the name of each section in that chapter. In each subsection, write down any bullet points and write down a few sample problems to make sure they understand the material.

After the chapter has concluded, they would move on to a new page and make sure they clearly space out the Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 notes.

Using this format allows a child to easily track the notes they need to study and the notes they may need to reference when a future assignment comes up. A child could get this down to a science and may unintentionally improve their memory in the process.

Another way this can help a child is by keeping track of where all of their school supplies are. They may have a system for carrying textbooks from lightest to heaviest. A child could store books in their locker in the order of class periods they have these subjects.

The point is that organizational skills allow a child to be more efficient and to be properly prepared for future tasks.

Time Management

When it comes to accomplishing tasks that students are not eager to do, it can be very easy to get wrapped up in procrastination. When this happens, time management goes out the window and it can leave students very stressed with trying to finish assignments at the last minute.

Unfortunately, this is a very common problem at the high school level. About 86% of high school students have a habit of procrastinating. Some of those students even keep that bad habit up in college and in the adult world.

There are a few reasons why children can end up procrastinating on certain tasks.

As discussed above, they may simply not want to do the task. Others may not mind doing it but may find it too difficult or daunting at first glance. Then, there are the students that get distracted by something more fun or more appealing.

With so many students falling victim to procrastination and poor time management, you can see how big of an advantage it is for the kids that have proper time management.

So, what can good time management do for a student? Well, the first thing that it can do is give students time to double-check and revise assignments that they have to submit to their teachers. They may catch a mistake or something they forgot to add, and now they will have the time to edit their work.

Another thing that good time management can do is help reduce the stress levels of students. That is because when it comes to procrastination, a sense of panic may hit when a student realizes they have run out of leeway. Then, they will have no choice but to try to accomplish the task as fast as possible.

Discipline

One fact of life is that for most people, not everything they face in life is going to be easy. That is why when a difficult task presents itself to someone, they must have the discipline to complete that task despite its challenges.

This is not only true in the real world but it is also true academically. The main reason it holds true in that realm is that if a child does not complete a task they find too difficult, they are going to fail.

What happens if a child fails a task? Then that can affect their grade for their entire class.

Let’s take this a step further and say that a child keeps giving up on tasks they find difficult in one particular subject. If that happens, then the child risks failing that class.

In most schools, failing a class, particularly one that is required to graduate, means that a child risks getting left behind. In other words, they could get held back for a year and watch their friends advance academically without them.

This would be a nightmare to most parents, so children have to learn to power through certain tasks that they may find difficult. They can do this by taking extra time to review the material, do some practice problems, and more.

A child may even be too embarrassed to talk about their difficulty with a task or subject out in the open. In that situation, they need to develop the courage to go to their teacher or talk to their parents privately and confess that they are having a hard time understanding the material.

In most situations, these adult figures will be willing to help the child by offering extra tutoring if they are willing to put in the work.

Communication

Finally, a successful student is going to want to have good communication skills. This can play into some of the discipline examples mentioned above.

While you have to have the discipline to power through academic tasks by any means necessary, communication can come into play to improve your chances of succeeding.

In the example above, we discussed a student going to a teacher or their parents if they truly are having a hard time understanding the material. That takes good and clear communication to let an adult know what is wrong and what they are willing to do to improve.

Without that type of communication, authority figures such as teachers or parents may not know that a child is struggling in the subject until it is too late.

However, with excellent communication, it does not even have to reach that point. Let’s just say that a student did not understand a lesson concept that a teacher was explaining on the board. Something they can do at that moment is to raise their hand and ask the teacher to explain it again with another example.

Another time students are going to need communication is with group projects. Students need to talk to each other here to see what each person in the group is going to do and what they are going to work towards.

This link reveals that in the workplace, good team communication improves productivity by 25% and that 70% of errors are caused by poor communication.

So, imagine if a high school student can increase their productivity by 25% and get rid of 70% of the academic mistakes that they make. All of this can be fixed by simple communication.

Children need to learn how to speak directly and clearly while not being afraid to vocalize thoughts.

Get Executive Function Training

These are some of the executive function skills that can greatly help students not just academically, but in the real world.

Improving their memory allows them to have an easier time studying and it plays into time management. Being organized and getting things done right away can reduce stress in a student. Discipline and clear communication can help students overcome roadblocks on their way to success.

Does your child need executive function training? Message us to find out how we can help your child develop those skills.