Executive Functioning Skills
Executive functioning (EF) skills are your "get it done" skills- they help you complete everyday tasks!These skills are independent of intelligence- you can have superior intelligence and still struggle with EF skills.Having a hard time with these skills is not a "moral failure"! We can work with EF skills in 2 ways: strengthen these skills or make adaptations to better support us. Oftentimes we do both!Not everyone who struggles with EF skills has ADHD, but everyone with ADHD struggles with some of these skills!
Describing the
EF Skills
Planning
Developing a well-thought-out strategy before starting a task:
- What do we need before beginning?
- What steps to help accomplish our goal effectively?
- What are the sequence of these steps?
- How will we best use our time?
Organization
System/method of keeping track of things:
- Is there a home for everything?
- What's the plan to keep track of things and access them?
- How are you maintaining this plan?
- Can you find what you need when you need it?
Task Initiation
Being able to get started/ take action :
- Ability to get started on tasks that matter to you, even when it is a less-desired task
- Being able to transition between tasks
- Being able to rely on yourself to get things done
Time Management
Organizing and using time well to complete tasks:
- Do you have a system to organize your time?
- Can you estimate how long tasks will take?
- Choose the most important thing (prioritize tasks)
- Can you use time efficiently and keep up with deadlines?
Attention Regulation
Ability to focus on a person or task for a period of time, ignore distractions, and refocus when needed:
- Did you hear and understand what was said/ read?
- Can you shift my attention as needed?
- Focus well during conversations
- Concentrate on longer tasks
Working memory
Keeping information in our heads while we use it (a form of short term memory):
- Solve math problems and juggle numbers in your head.
- Remembering critical details in a story.
- Remembering driving directions.
- Thinking back to what directions were given in class.
- Remembering the previous step when making box brownies
- Holding something in your mind long enough to put in a calendar or on a list.
Metacognition
The ability to think about your thinking or functioning:
- Considering what we know (and what we don’t know) about a topic as we learn.
- Recognizing how you're doing or how you did with a task and why. Self-insight
- Identifying the resources you need and accessing them
Self-control
Stopping, thinking, and making intentional choices with future you in mind:
- A big part of this is regulating your emotions
- Being able to “hit the pause button”
- Calm down when emotions run high
- Think through a situation
- Make a good choice for future you.
- Includes self control in the moment (not interrupting or throwing something when you're angry) and longer term (choosing to go to bed in order to feel better in the morning)
Perseverance
Staying with a task while working through challenges/ difficulties:
- Being able to try new strategies (cognitive flexibility)
- Continue working when a task is difficult (emotional regulation/self talk)
- Knowing how to ask for help or access resources during process.
Cognitive Flexibility
Adapting to change, unexpected circumstances, and entertaining different perspectives
- Being open-minded
- Testing out new approaches, experimenting
- Going with the flow when things do not go as planned
- See a situation in more than one way
- Problem-solving and perspective-taking.
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Below are some common areas that we can work on in coaching.
