Almost every parent comes to us with the same concerns and frustrations.

Their child is smart and capable and has many interests (sometimes within and often outside of the classroom), but they struggle at school because of late homework, disorganization, and perceived laziness. They also may have attention deficit issues, anxiety, and seem stressed but it’s unclear how or if that is related.

Most parents don’t know that the driving factor behind all of these issues is low Executive Functioning.not a term that is familiar to most of us, but it impacts each of us and especially our children.

Executive functioning is a relatively new term that can seem confusing. But, it’s really very simple. Executive functioning helps us to manage what we need to, on time, and with quality work.

• Paying attention 

• Organizing and planning 

• Initiating tasks and staying focused on them 

• Regulating emotions

• Self monitoring

• Organization

• Time management

• Study strategizing 

• Goal setting

• Self Advocacy 

• Prioritization

These are the skills your child needs to manage their academic obligations, retain ongoing due dates, prioritize differing assignments, maintain organization of their materials, engage with their work over multiple days, and manage their anxiety during the process. 

Students with executive functioning challenges are often labeled as smart and capable, but are unable to do their work or maintain grades that reflect their intellectual ability. That’s because students with low executive functioning have a difficult time maintaining awareness of their weekly obligations (academic, extracurricular, and personal) and breaking down those obligations into manageable components. They struggle to create strategies designed to meet both personal and external expectations. The results are often low grades, corresponding low self-esteem, anger, frustration, stress, and tension at home.

The classic symptoms of poor executive functioning include:

• Late and missing assignments.

• Inconsistent test scores across multiple subjects.

• General disorganization including messy backpacks, lost and misplaced work, and messy work spaces.

• Often fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes.

• Has difficulty sustaining attention, is forgetful in daily activities, is easily distracted by extraneous stimuli.

• Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort.

• Avoidant behavior, denial and displaced blame, perfectionism, and anxiety surrounding grades.

When your child lacks these skills, it can invoke feelings of shame and embarrassment. This notion is reinforced in the academic arena where executive functioning skills are implied in the classroom and rarely explicitly taught. It’s assumed that students should just be able to get their work in, take tests well, etc. So, if they had always done well, made As with little effort, and seemed confident and suddenly they start to slip across all arenas it can increase their stress, low self-esteem, and conflict at home.

We understand that executive functioning skills are not always intuitive, especially for students with ADHD, learning differences, mental health issues, and who are often in disruptive environments. It is our role to teach our students core executive functioning skills in order to reduce their shame about the way they function and increase their academic self esteem. 

Executive Functioning, Attention Deficits, Mental Health Issues and Learning Differences.

Students with ADHD, learning differences, and anxiety and depression tend to have lower executive functioning. There are many neuropsychologists, therapists, and other professionals who can explain the reasoning why. For our purposes, we recognize that it is often the way that our students feel or think about themselves and their environments that contribute to their low motivation, avoidant behavior, and disorganization. It is for that reason that we align with a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy model that asserts that the way we think, we feel, and our behavior is mutually reinforcing.

For example, our behavior (handing in a late assignment, failing a test, forgetting a project at home, etc) affects how we think and feel about ourselves (I’m stupid, what’s wrong with me, why is it easier for everyone else, I hate school, I don’t want to care anymore, I’m going to get in so much trouble, etc). And, the way we feel (I’m not good at this, it won’t matter I’m failing anyways) affects our behavior (avoiding assignments, procrastinating, telling small lies to avoid conflict).

And when our students suffer from depression, they often have no motivation, energy, or self-advocacy and they have increasing self-consciousness about their performance. When they suffer from anxiety, focus often wanes as well as the ability to participate in class, speak to teachers or ask for help, take tests in the classroom, do group projects, etc. As their classroom and academic performance wanes, it only reinforces their narrative that they are incapable.

It is critical that we help our students understand and hone executive functioning skills that will help temper these symptoms and help them depersonalize their academic experience, building their confidence and improving their performance.