Organization & Executive Function Skills
Executive Function has been called the “CEO” of our brain. It covers a collection of interrelated functions responsible for purposeful and goal-directed behavior. Most executive function difficulties are identified in middle school when organization skills and independent work are required. However, young children who have difficulty transitioning from one activity to another, or experience trouble following a sequence of instructions (such as getting ready in the morning, or completing homework assignments) are likely demonstrating problems with executive function. Younger students may show fewer signs of difficulty because parents and teachers manage their academic and social activities. As higher levels of organization and independent problem-solving become required in middle school, high school, college, and adulthood, individuals become more challenged.
Developing executive function skills helps children, teens, and adults become more independent and to manage their life better. This allows the following to become easier, logical, and faster: school work, homework, social life, work life, balancing multiple responsibilities, goal-setting, and planning for the future.
Some of the difficulties with executive function have been associated with conditions including: ADHD, Tourette’s Syndrome, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, Depression, Learning Disabilities, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. (Bradshaw JL, 2001)
Organization & Executive Function Problems
- Constantly needs reminders
- Thinking, schoolwork, or homework takes too long
- Impulsive (verbally or physically)
- Difficulty predicting possible consequences or outcomes (cause and effect)
- Poor test-taking (understood it during homework, but the teacher changed the format of the test)
- Loses track of what they are doing
- Literal thinking- doesn’t get jokes, humor, and slang
- Poor attention
- Difficulty coming up with logical solutions
- Disorganized (work, physical space, communication)
- Difficulty planning and prioritizing
- Wants immediate gratification
- Poor time management
- Poor memory (information, instructions, phone numbers, directions)
- Difficulty with active listening
- Poor reading skills (especially comprehension)
- Poor study skills
- Poor emotional control; difficulty controlling reactions, or reactions to change (cries easily, temper tantrums, easily angered)
- Rigid thinking; not mentally flexible, can’t shift their mindset
- Doesn’t plan ahead
- Difficulty organizing materials and physical space
- Doesn’t self-monitor social interactions
- Test anxiety
- Difficulty prioritizing and managing long-term projects
- Difficulty seeing another person’s point-of-view
- Does homework but forgets to turn it in
What Our Organization and Executive Function Program Does
Executive function skills are high-level thinking skills that depend upon getting complete and accurate information to think with. If a student has weak processing or learning skills, they should be addressed prior to doing the executive function program.
This extensive, one-to-one, individualized program, is geared toward students in 6th grade to adolescents and adults. The practice activities, and teaching, match the responsibilities, assignments, and activities that are typical for the individual’s age. The actual activity content is drawn from the individual student’s own life so that the proactive activities are as relevant and applicable as possible.
Each student doing the program has a workbook to highlight, to take notes in, and to keep as a reference. The dialoguing between the Therapeutic Learning Coach (TLC) and the student is instrumental in developing and internalizing the concepts and strategies presented.
