From Chaos to Control: Nurturing Executive Functioning Skills in ADHD Individuals

It’s estimated that nearly six million children in the United States struggle with ADHD. There are a lot of ways that ADHD can affect the way a child learns and socializes. One of the common ones is executive dysfunction.

This symptom of ADHD is characterized by difficulty learning common executive functioning skills. So what exactly are executive functioning skills? And how can they be nurtured in individuals with ADHD?

The good news is that executive functioning skills for ADHD individuals can be learned. However, it will take additional education and coaching to accomplish. This guide will cover everything you need to know about controlling executive dysfunction in individuals with ADHD.

What Are Executive Functioning Skills?

Executive functioning refers to a certain set of skills that are learned through childhood development. No one is born with these skills, but they can be learned over time.

You can think of executive functioning skills as an air traffic controller. These professionals help planes take off and land safely, often coordinating between multiple planes both on the ground and in the air.

In this same vein, our executive function skills help us prioritize which tasks and thoughts are most important at any given moment.

As we cover in this guide, there are eight core components of executive functioning skills including:

• Working memory
• Self-control
• Cognitive flexibility
• Inhibitory control
• Planning and organization
• Initiation
• Emotional regulation
• Task monitoring

Executive functioning skills can help with things like planning, setting and meeting goals, self-control, following directions that contain multiple steps, and remaining uninterrupted. Let’s take a closer look at some of the specific aspects of executive function skills.

Working Memory

Your brain goes through a lot of information each day that it either needs to work or play with. Once you sit down to do a task you need to temporarily store this information.

That’s where your working memory comes into play. It allows you to store and process information while you’re working on it, like reading a sentence or conceptualizing a math problem.

It’s important to remember that working memory is different from short-term memory. With short-term memory, the brain is simply holding the information in the mind.

It’s not manipulating it in any way. Working memory, on the other hand, allows us to interact with short-term information in meaningful ways.

With it, we can relate multiple ideas together, follow complex directions, and remember questions we want to ask during a conversation or lecture. It’s essential for things like memorizing vocabulary. It’s also vital for things like planning, organization, and prioritizing.

Inhibition Control

Inhibition control is a fancy way of referring to self-control. In other words, it’s the ability to regulate certain emotions, actions, and thoughts. When you think before you speak or act out, you’re exhibiting inhibition control.

The same goes when you resist temptation, like avoiding sweets before a meal. Inhibition control can be broken down into three main areas: behavioral, attentional, and emotional.

We’ve already covered some of the behavioral aspects, and how it can help keep you from blurting out something embarrassing while someone is talking.

In terms of attention, inhibition control helps with selective attention. It allows you to focus on the task at hand, whether that’s homework or the dishes. More importantly, it helps you conquer distractions.

You might want to watch a new episode of a TV show instead of doing taxes. But with inhibition control, you can fight these urges and do what you need to do. Lastly, there’s emotional inhibition control.

This helps you regulate the way you’re feeling. When someone does something that upsets you your first instinct might be to yell at them or even physically hurt them. Emotional control allows you to stay calm and not act on these impulses.

Cognitive Flexibility and Task Shifting

Cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to think outside the box and embrace new ideas. A person with high cognitive flexibility skills can admit when they’re wrong.

They can also uncover new ways of doing things or thinking about concepts. This flexibility can also extend to the ability to adjust and change to the unexpected.

Perhaps that’s why people with a high level of cognitive flexibility are good at improvisational art forms, like comedy or jazz music.

How Does ADHD Affect Executive Functioning Skill?

We’ve covered a lot of aspects surrounding executive functioning skills and what they affect. So how are they linked to individuals with ADHD?

Executive dysfunction is a symptom of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Studies show that people with ADHD struggle with multiple areas of executive functioning. This can include things like:

• Controlling their impulses
• Maintaining focus on a given task
• Fully completing tasks
• Organizing schedules and time management
• Feeling motivated to complete a task
• Feeling overwhelmed by seemingly simple tasks

Even in neurotypical individuals, executive functioning skills take a while to develop. We start at the age of two and don’t fully develop them until we reach thirty.

Unfortunately, because ADHD people have trouble learning them, they often fall behind. This helps explain why some ADHD adults act younger than they are. They might lack inhibition control and talk over others while they’re speaking.

Or, these adults with ADHD might struggle with task management and working memory. This can cause problems both in their social lives and professional or educational settings.

The good news is that people with ADHD can still learn executive functioning skills. They just require a bit more help than the average person.

How to Improve Executive Functioning Skills for ADHD Individuals

As we mentioned, people with ADHD can struggle to learn some aspects of executive functioning skills. The extent of this will depend on the severity of their condition.

For example, some people might just struggle with a specific aspect, like inhibition control. Others might lack almost all the skills necessary for them to function in a social environment or workplace.

The good news is that there are ways to improve executive functioning skills in even the most severe cases of ADHD. In this section, we’ll cover some of the solutions.

Executive Functioning Coaching

Executive functioning coaching is a service that’s specifically geared toward middle and high school students struggling with symptoms of executive dysfunction.

It uses evidence-based strategies to help them build routines and practices that encourage executive functioning skills. This, in turn, allows them to keep up with their peers and not fall behind in classes.

Different executive functioning coaching programs will teach different things. Here at Peak Academic Coaching, our program emphasizes skills like:

• Prioritizing and focusing on important tasks like homework and studying
• Avoiding distractions both in and outside of the classroom
• Learning how to work around deadlines
• Directing their energy toward something positive like education, life goals, and career prospects

By targeting these skills early on when the kids are teenagers you set them up for success further down the line once they’re young adults.

What’s more, this type of coaching doesn’t need to be disruptive to schedules. In many cases, you can build these executive skills through coaching entirely online.

Medication

Medication isn’t a perfect solution on its own. While it might not be right for everyone, if you or your child have been diagnosed with ADHD, it’s worth considering.

You can break the medications for ADHD treatments down into two main categories: stimulants and non-stimulants. You might think that stimulants would cause your child to be even more hyper.

However, with ADHD the opposite is true. Because individuals with ADHD lack dopamine, a stimulant that supplies it can often have a calming effect on the child or teen.

If you’re weary of stimulants you can also go with the non-stimulant options. As of the time of the writing, there have been four non-stimulant ADHD medications approved by the FDA. These include:

• Strattera (or atomoxetine)
• Intuniv (or guanfacine)
• Kapvay (or clonidine)
• Qelbree (or viloxazine)

Make sure you get an official diagnosis and speak with a medical professional before choosing an ADHD medication for your child.

They can help you decide on the best option to meet their needs, as well as additional treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy.

Time Management

Time management is an extremely important aspect of nurturing executive functioning skills. Luckily, there are things you can do at home that will help your child build time management into their routines.

That starts with setting time frames to complete certain tasks. For example, you might tell your child that they should spend more than one hour completing their math homework.

This can help avoid procrastination. It can be hard to grasp the length of time when you’re a child. As such, alarms can also be helpful. They help your child know how long they’ve been spending time on something.

You can also use them to teach your child about building leeway into their schedule. For example, if they’re always late getting ready for school you can tell them to set alarms thirty minutes earlier.

This provides a buffer so they’re not late. You can also save time by getting things ready the night before, like laying out clothes or packing bags.

This guide goes over some great ways to teach time management skills to children at a young age.

Organization Skills

People with ADHD who rely on their memory to remember important tasks and assignments are going to have a bad time. They’ll miss homework, events, and even studying for important tests.

That’s why you also need to teach them organizational skills that don’t rely on memory. Planners are excellent for this. Not only does it help as a written reminder, but the process of writing it down also reinforces the memory.

Lists are also incredibly helpful for people with ADHD. A daily to-do list helps them know everything they need to do for the day. And the process of crossing an item off the list helps provide a dopamine and confidence boost.

You can also consider using visual aids. Many people with ADHD respond positively to this. If your child keeps all of their subject material in a giant pile it’s going to take valuable time and attention just to find what they’re looking for.

Color coding labels in your planner can help your child immediately find assignments or study material. If your child uses a smartphone they can also utilize the reminders app to remember important assignments or tests.

Specific Activities

Many people think that executive functioning skills are learned entirely in the classroom. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Indeed, activities like storytelling are often taught in school through reading.

But don’t underestimate the power of everyday activities. For example, sports like basketball, baseball, and martial arts all teach children the importance of discipline and character development.

The same goes for the arts, whether that’s dancing, music, or painting. Not only do these things allow children to think about complex ideas that are outside of the box, but they also give them access to a community.

Other activities that can help improve executive functioning include:

• Woodworking
• Cooking
• Taking care of animals
• Reading and writing
• Wilderness survival (through organizations like Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts)

Even the process of playing can help. For example, social play can help a child learn what is and isn’t acceptable when interacting socially with others. However, it’s important to remember that children will still need guidance.

Often children with ADHD will have difficulty seeing how a skill in one context can be applied to another.

For example, the creativity used in making art can also be applied when organizing a presentation. However, this might not be obvious to your child until you make the connection.

Need Help Improving Executive Functioning Skills? Contact Peak Academic Coaching

We hope this guide helped you learn more about nurturing executive functioning skills for ADHD individuals. Here at Peak Academic Coaching, we’ve seen first-hand how executive dysfunction can cause people with ADHD to fall behind academically.

Luckily it doesn’t have to be this way. We use an evidence-based curriculum to foster both awareness then reconditioning.

When combined with our seven core principles, it gives your child the best chance of honing their executive function skills. So if you’re ready to give them the help they need, contact us today.