by contributing blogger, Yaco
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In a workshop that I attended today on the topic of trauma-informed teaching, the presenter explained that the absence of executive function (EF) in human cognition was like driving a Ferrari without brakes. This analogy really stuck with me. If executive function can be the difference between life and death, it’s critically important, but I wonder how well it is understood. What do educators, administrators, school counselors, social workers, parents, and others that contribute to educating today’s youth really know about executive function? How is executive function taught in schools? How does our knowledge of executive function affect how we work with children at different ages and stages throughout their K-12 education?
Understood, a digital resource for learning and attention issues (you can learn more about their story here) defines EF as “a group of three skills that allow kids to manage their thoughts, actions, and emotions in order to get things done. They also enable kids to plan, manage time and organize.” Understood goes on to label the three groups of skills as 1. Working Memory, 2. Cognitive Flexibility, and 3. Inhibitory Control. Understood provides a handy infographic that goes into greater detail about each skill set.
Okay, so EF helps us pay attention, critically think, and regulate a whole host of necessary life functions. Now that we have a better understanding of what EF consists of, how can we support its development?
The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University provides a number of resources that can help us gain a better understanding of EF as it relates to development. One particular resource by the Center on the Developing Child, What Is Executive Function? And How Does It Relate to Child Development? explains that EF is a set of skills that must be learned throughout one’s childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.
Stop right there. Put on the brakes (…in that dream Ferrari…that has brakes). EF is a set of skills. Okay, we get that. But what else did they say? EF is a set of skills that Must. Be. Learned.
Are they saying Piaget had it all wrong? Cognitive development does not happen in the same way as biological maturation?
Okay, okay, I’ve heard this critique of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development before. Social interaction is crucial for cognitive development. Of course children need to learn from parents, teachers, coaches, mentors or “More Knowledgeable Others” as another famous developmental theorists once put it (thank you, Vygotsky), but don’t we all kinda believe that as kids grow older, the mere act of maturing plays a role in their ability to pay attention, organize, plan, regulate emotions, and generally just keep track of what their doing?
I’ll be the first to admit it- I did.
The Center on the Developing Child addresses three popular misconceptions of science related to EF:
- Contrary to popular belief, learning to control impulses, pay attention, and retain information actively in one’s memory does not happen automatically as children mature, and young children who have problems with these skills will not necessarily outgrow them.
- Contrary to popular belief, young children who do not stay on task, lose control of their emotions, or are easily distracted are not “bad kids” who are being intentionally uncooperative and belligerent.
- Contrary to the theory that guides some early education programs that focus solely on teaching letters and numbers, explicit efforts to foster executive functioning have positive influences on instilling early literacy and numeracy skills.
These misconceptions highlight how a lack of understanding of child development, EF, or both can contribute to a whole host of barriers that will prevent children from obtaining EF, because we simply might not understand the importance of teaching EF skills, or worse yet, mistakenly believe that EF does not have to be taught at all. This seemingly simple mistake may contribute to the over-diagnosis of attention deficit disorders among children (wondering what the difference is between ADHD and Executive Functioning Issues? Understood has you covered for that, too.) Equally as alarming, this lack of understanding could even be attributing to the school-to-prison pipeline as “bad kids” receive less instructional time due to consequences for misbehavior that remove them from the classroom.
So now what?
Join me in building a toolkit to support teaching and learning about EF.
Understood and the Center on the Developing Child have lots of helpful resources. Another great resource with surprisingly practical tips for supporting students who struggle with EF is the Child Mind Institute. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed four modules to assist students in increasing self-awareness and improving the ability to pay attention and focus, which are related to the skills of EF. Also, The Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota is researching ways in which EF in children can be assessed to gain a better understanding of its relationship to learning and development. You can learn more about the Minnesota Executive Function Scale that has been developed by researcher, Stephanie Carlson, PhD at the U of M in this quick video:
All of these resources provide us with a greater understanding of EF, and the more we know about it, the more we will be able to teach the skills necessary for children to develop EF.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on executive function and the resources you may already have in your toolkit. Post your comments below.
Sources:
Understood for Learning & Attention Issues. (2014-2019). Our Story. Retrieved online from https://www.understood.org/en/about/our-story
Understood for Learning & Attention Issues. (2014-2019). 3 Areas of Executive Function. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/3-areas-of-executive-function
Understood for Learning & Attention Issues. (2014-2019). The Difference Between ADHD and Executive Functioning Issues. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/difference-between-executive-functioning-issues-and-adhd
Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. (2019). What Is Executive Function? And How Does It Relate to Child Development? Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/what-is-executive-function-and-how-does-it-relate-to-child-development/
The Child Mind Institute. (2019). For Educators. Retrieved from https://childmind.org/audience/for-educators/
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Modules for Executive Functioning [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://www.uhs.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/modules-for-executive-functioning.pdf
McLeod, S. (2018). Lev Vygtosky. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
McLeod, S. (2018). Jean Piaget. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Each week we have new guest bloggers, follow us to stay in the loop – just click the follow button on the lower righthand side.
summeredublog 
When I was eight years old, my second grade teacher had me taken out of class so I could perform several different tests and exercises with a woman I didn’t know. I was initially confused as to why I had to take these tests and my classmates didn’t, but it was explained to me later by my parents that I had issues concentrating due to being frequently distracted. I was also blurting out answers when I wasn’t supposed to and impulsively acting out. I eventually came to understand that I was being tested for ADHD, but now after our readings and blog post, I realize I was also probably being tested for executive function issues, specifically because of a lack of an inhibitory control skill. As I grew older, these issues gradually went away. This may have just been because I was biologically maturing, but I believe the social interactions I had during my childhood and the resources that were available at my schools were the main reason why my executive function issues went away. I was very privileged to have teachers who cared about me and saw that I wasn’t a bad kid, I just needed some help. Not all kids have these resources or are lucky enough to get the help I did, and that needs to change.
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In my experience working on the Welfare to Work team at the nonprofit Avivo, we’ve talked a lot about how poverty affects EF. Specifically we’ve discussed EF within a scarcity mindset–with the help of a Department of Human Services training (not available online). In this training, scarcity was defined as lacking either time, resources or money. Often, people in poverty are lacking in more than one of these categories. When this occurs, EF skills decrease dramatically as being in scarcity requires people to focus solely on meeting their needs.
I worry that when we evaluate children for EF skills, we do not properly take into account how scarcity might be affecting they way they perform on evaluations or tests. Are we labeling students as lacking EF when really, their ability to perform is hindered by their needs not being met? How can we make these tests appropriate for students beyond white, middle-class students–which we often deem the “norm” or the “caliber?” Are EF skills another marker that will label affluent students as how children should be? Thus, subsequently labeling students of color or lower wealth students as lacking?
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I think you pose great questions, and helped me to further understand some of the students I have been working with. These students are often going without, whether that be without proper food intake, emotional support, care and supervision, what have you and are not having their basic needs met. We ultimately focus on these students needing specific school or medication interventions, but what if we started with an attempt to correct some of those deficiencies of basic need where we can? There’s a lot to think about here and I appreciate the questions you brought up and the perspective you shared.
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Like Theo said above, “not all kids have these resources or are lucky enough to get the help I did”, this was/is the case for my brother. He has ADHD, anxiety, and is now in an EBD classroom. It’s great that he is finally receiving the resources he is, but he is in 10th grade. That means he slipped through the cracks for 10 years, which is unbelievable because he has always been the “bad kid” in the majority of his teacher’s eyes. It’s not because he was a middle of the class, quiet kid. The moral of this story is to say, I agree completely, this is something that needs to change.
In the article, it spoke on the school-to-prison pipeline and how EF is related to this. I previously interviewed a family, who will remain unnamed, but her adopted son has FASD and had a trauma-filled childhood. He is now in second grade and is in his third school; he is also in a setting three school and his class consists of 3 students, himself and two 14-year-old African American boys. That is a five-year difference with his classmates, which is not good for social development. Also, once in these programs it’s uncommon for students to exit them (or more uncommon than it should be). This is just another example of how EF can lead students to the school-to-prison pipeline if not identified early on.
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Reading this blog post about Executive Function made me consider the potential problems within our educational systems and the need to teach with a holistic approach. Rather than focusing primarily on memorization and testing, we need to create experiences that allow students to grow emotionally and socially, to understand the ways they can control their own emotional reactions and how to deal with and reflect upon complex situations. I think that in teaching this social-emotional self awareness, students can learn to regulate their behaviors better. I fear that many students can be written off as “bad kids” or “bad students” because they haven’t had the emotional development required for executive function. With the right kind of guidance, those students (and I know many of them personally!) can learn how to cope with their impulses and become healthier adults.
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I love the holistic idea to teaching and incorporating social and emotional growth. I think a lot of that is assumed to happen naturally but if we are intentional in that line of teaching could go a long way. I agree that so many students who are said to be those “trouble-makers” or “bad kids” could simply be behind in their emotional growth, social awareness, and sense of self.
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I think that Katie makes a great point about the assumption that students progress socially and emotionally through natural means. I think that looking at students holistically, and thoughtfully teaching social and emotional skills in school helps the student as they progress in their development.
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I also like the idea of holistic teaching being brought in. Especially when every student is taught is this way in the classroom, their emotional growth can grow together. Now if a student shows emotion they are considered “babies”. Through holistic teaching every can be shown that it is okay to express and grow in this aspect.
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I can relate to your statement of fearing that a large number of students can be looked at as “bad kids” and be disregarded or get continuously sent to the principal’s office. I also am personally acquainted with families who have students that often get written off as “bad students” due to their outbursts, impulses, lack of ability to pay attention, etc. This also reminds me of when I was in grade school (I was on the shy side) and I remember how the kids who always spoke out of turn would get yelled at, or otherwise in some sort of trouble, and that instilled fear in myself to never fall out of line. At that time in my young mind, the other student’s behavior was deemed as “bad” and the only way to remain on the teacher’s “good side” was to sit still and be quiet. This is an issue that I hope is being addressed in today’s schools and I think that the more informed we can be as educators on the topic of Executive Function (and/or the absence of it) the more we can get closer to building a better toolkit for all students to thrive.
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It was really interesting to read this article on EF and all of its components after completing a week of leading a class of fifth and sixth graders, many of which have been labeled as “problematic” students during their time in school. This class was an active one, lots of movement and games, opportunities to release energy and work with others, but did require independent work time, research time, and focused attention on baseline lessons. Though I have spent a lot of time in these schools and with these specific students, my initial reaction to disruptions was like what was described in this post, an assumption that this behavior was intentional and a choice was being made to act out. Thankfully I have relationships with these students and know their specific situations and backgrounds, so I understood how to move forward while keeping them in the classroom, but it would likely be much different in a situation with new or unknown students. This research as part of our education is essential and I’m looking forward to delving in more so I can further mold the way that I lead a classroom and react to specific behaviors.
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Just as Theo and Jo said, i also had have a brother that was diagnosed with ADHD, ADD, and severe anxiety. Growing up in a very rural area i do not believe the tools were readily available to do the testing for EF at that time, makes me wonder if this was more the situation than anything else? He grew as the “bad kid” or the the kid that never paid attention. I agree completely that this is an area for improvement in all schools. There are so many other ways that educators adapt their ways to accommodate to other students whether it is physically or mentally that testing for this should be brought into more school. Also educating parents on the concerns and ways to help at home; and giving a good example of the child’s background if not already known.
I am looking forward to learning how to guide and help children cope with the behavior.
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I think this article goes to show the importance of knowing and understanding students’ backgrounds prior to engaging them in a classroom setting. Whether it’s skimming over prior work from previous classes, reading other teacher’s comments, or meeting with parents before starting a semester, I believe having these tools will only help educators diagnose some of these issues we see today as opposed to learning and adapting on the fly. Not to say that you can diagnose a student based strictly off their history but it certainly gives you an advantage in what to expect as well as understanding that there may be an underlying issue with a student. I too was under the impression that maturation is a natural process and that kids can simply out grow bad habits. That’s why it’s so important to highlight Vygotsky’s work and understand that there are social and cultural factors at play in a students’ development and as educators our job is to fill in the gaps where maybe those factors fell short in the developmental process.
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I can relate to the opening sentences of your comment. Having the experiences of being a substitute teacher, you are thrown into classes where you don’t know anything about the students you have that day. This can make it tough to know how to handle some situations and possibly students. I agree that it is important for teachers to have a simple understanding of students’ backgrounds so they can help students develop into their potential. Thanks for the insight!
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I would definitely agree that as teachers learning about how the effects of having or not having EF is important. I would love to know more about how you can ‘teach’ or improve EF with your students. One of the parts that you wrote about, how students with lower EF are more likely to struggle with organizing and staying on task which I think most teachers see as something that is connected with maturity. So children who can ‘handle’ it are mature enough and those who can’t aren’t, but this really could be an EF connection. When working with younger kids you see a lot of kids that this is their first school experience and the kids come in with so many different levels and experiences. All of this can effect how they learn or even the willingness to learn. Starting at this age it would be great to be able to integrate EF learning experiences to build upon what the kids have and full in the gaps before they get to big.
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After reading the blog and everyone’s comments, I too am left with the same questions many of you posed. As I began thinking about my own blog this weekend, which is coming up soon, I was very eager to add this topic to my list of questions I want to research for it. I feel that other more common topics (i.e. sleep, nutrition) get more attention when it comes to tackling situations in our education system mentioned in the blog (i.e. labeling as “bad” students, school-to-prison pipeline). Honestly, I personally have never known exactly what EF is until this class which I find surprising. Why is this not talked about more? Topics such as EF, which I now know may play a very crucial role for many students in our schools, should be talked about just as much as the common topics we hear about more often. I believe there is much to learn especially for us teachers to understand our students and help create the best environment to optimize learning for every student. Each student has endless potential and the misconceptions and misunderstanding of a student could lead to a very different experience for them in our school systems. It could also affect student- teacher relationships. A student may have low EF in which the teacher may become frustrated or have a difficult time connecting with them if the teacher doesn’t have a full understanding of EF. I am very excited to possibly research this topic more for my blog and hopefully provide some more light on how this issue could be affecting the achievement gap as well.
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My fiancé and I plan to adopt children in the next couple years. Recently we have been attending adoption classes as apart of Minnesota’s foster to adopt program. The vast majority of the classes have addressed trauma in one aspect or another. Listening to professional therapists talk about trauma and how it presents itself in children has really changed my mindset during my observations in schools. One of biggest transitions I’ve seen through the adoption classes is the change in vocabulary. Instead of labeling a child as behaving or misbehaving, many parents and professionals at the trainings choose to use words such as regulated or unregulated. Those with knowledge of executive function understand that when a child is in an unregulated state due to a prior trauma, their ability to reason or think through a problem is impaired until they are regulated. I think this understanding is a pretty powerful tool for educators, especially as they interpret behavior and help students progress in their development. I think that although content work in schools is important, without executive function a child’s ability to learn content information is limited. I think in today’s educational climate, educators are coming to the conclusion that there is more to education than content knowledge and standards. Relationships, behavior, and resiliency also play a major part and embracing that allows educators to be more successful in teaching children.
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Executive functioning skills are vital for people to carry out day-to-day tasks and for students’ success in school. Unfortunately, there is lack of awareness and misinformation about EF. Some common misconceptions are that children struggling with executive functioning skills will develop them automatically as they mature, or that they are “bad kids” who are intentionally uncooperative. These beliefs result in adults not explicitly teaching EF skills. In turn, children will not only be lacking those skills, but also will be missing out on academic content. The gap of knowledge will become bigger between them and their peers until EF needs are addressed. The importance of executive functioning skills cannot be stressed enough.
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Personally, I am new to the topic, so I don’t have anything to add to the toolkit in terms of technique derived from personal experience. That said, I went ahead and followed the link to the Four Modules for Executive Functioning and found methods and techniques for adults (or at least college students) that involved self-assessment, and strategies for focusing, organizing, improving initiation and maximizing attention. If you compare the strategies given in the Four Modules to the role of the adult in establishing the framework for a child to learn–described in the What is Executive Function? article–there is certainly an overarching theme and they align on certain specific suggestions (e.g., breaking tasks into smaller chunks). So, the question at least in my mind is, how do you create a classroom learning environment that recognizes the need to address learning associated with the skills of executive function? While I don’t have a concrete answer to my own question, I think that as an adult, if you can reflect on your own behavior with respect to things like focus, organization, and impulse control then you may be better equipped to model appropriate behavior for your students.
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Emma, I think all of us as educators improve EF skills in our students daily in different ways. Like you I would also like to know specific skills especially with setting 3 EBD middle school students, but I know just little things like a written schedule or visuals help the “air traffic control center” in each of our students. Clear steps or instructions for worksheets, group time, or projects help with the working memory EF aspect. I also, made it a mission to bring my two chess boards in and teach each of the students in the room how to play haha. For the cognitive flexibility I try to use different techniques if the students are struggling to do work or wanting to give up. By just saying “you’re on the right track” or “you’ve got some good ideas, keep up the great work.” Inhibitory control is the hardest skill that my students struggle with and like I said with the written schedule on the board this helps because if a reward or something fun is at the end then they will do a better job of avoiding distractions and impulses. I’m not a special education teacher yet, but these would be some examples I would continue to use and I would also utilize the four modules from the University of Wisconsin because I liked the questions and I think simple breathing techniques are important.
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This is such an interesting topic that I think about often in my job as an educator. I sometimes wonder when a student is having trouble completing a task if I am asking them to do something that they might not have the toolbox (EF skills) to start or complete it. I think that so many frustrations (on both sides) in schools could be prevented if these skills were considered during instruction and explicitly taught. I want to spend more time looking into additional ways to include this into my teaching.
It’s easy to get tunnel vision to teach for subject matter because of pressures from different sources. EF and social skills should be included because when these things improve the subject matter is more accessible to the students. Part of the cause of the school to prison pipeline is that students who are seen as “bad” are sent out of class, they miss content and it snowballs. If EF skills were explicitly taught and more educators thought about the different levels EF in their students, could we disrupt this cycle?
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What really stood out to me about this article is Stephanie Carlson’s statement on EF. In her video, she states, “One thing that we’ve learned with the Minnesota Executive Functioning scale is just how typical and normal it is to have struggles with executive function for a long time.” I think that research and statements like this help us unite together as educators, parents, and community members to become more educated on the issue and find healthy, successful solutions in helping our students thrive in school. Carlson’s tablet box-sorting measure is one example of progression; the part about this box-sorting which I find most interesting is how the rules can “switch up unexpectedly” at any moment. I would like to find out more about how and why this method is helpful with EF and explore what other kinds of activities would be helpful to students.
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Reading this blog reminded me of Learners with Special Needs class that I took last year. I have already been exposed to this term. And I was quizzed in it. However, the instructor went briefly on it. Your post clearly explained and It did help me make a connection with what I have been observing in schools in my field experience. the overrepresentation of students of color in special programs in schools could be explained by the lack of executive functioning that students didn’t develop throughout their schooling. Another connection I make when I co-taught with a physical Science teacher, we spent some time working with students on building those executive functioning skills for newcomers, particularly, students with limited formal schooling.
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To be honest, I have never heard of the term Executive Function before, and I am still working on cementing the definition in my brain, but I find this extremely fascinating – I am unsure about how they managed to reduce the skills needed to manage thoughts, actions, and emotions into three, but I imagine each one (working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control) has a lot of research and explanations put into them.
With the mention of a lack of understanding leading to an overdiagnosis of ADHD and more fuel for the school-to-prison pipeline, I am very interested in the idea that learning and understanding more about EF in helping to prevent that – I had a lot of friends in middle and high school struggle and be told off by teachers when they couldn’t understand something, and that always frustrated me.
Lastly, one of my psychology teachers mentioned in a class long ago that the human brain isn’t meant for math and science – that is something that we have created and that a lot of students struggle with because of that – and I am very interested in seeing if this has any connection to that and how it could play out.
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Before reading the article I hadn’t heard of executive function before but I can immediately see how it relates to students in their different stages of development. Working with special education students has helped me understand that their isn’t a set standard level of development for children and that they all grow and learn differently. I do agree that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of students that are immediately group in the ADHD category and I would be interested to see how many practicing teachers currently understand how to help develop EF.
The biggest takeaway I received from this was understanding that EF is extremely important to help students continue to develop. The more you can develop it the better the students will become.
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