executive functions

Executive Functions – A Formal Definition

Executive functions help you manage yourself and your resources to achieve a goal. It is an umbrella term for the neurologically-based skills involving mental control and self-regulation.

What mental control skills are covered under this umbrella? Different researchers and practitioners have their own lists, although the overall concept is basically the same.

Executive Functions – Terms & Definitions

Originally published on LDonline.org as “What Is Executive Functioning?” by Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel

Response Inhibition: Think before you act – this ability to resist the urge to say or do something allows us the time to evaluate a situation and how our behavior might impact it. In adolescence, it would be demonstrated by accepting a referee’s call without an argument.

Working Memory: Remember information while performing complex tasks. It incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project into the future. A middle school child can remember the expectations of multiple teachers.

Emotional Control: Manage emotions to achieve goals, complete tasks, or control and direct behavior. A teenager is able to manage the anxiety of a game or test and still perform.

Sustained Attention: Maintain attention in a situation or task despite distractibility, fatigue, or boredom. The teenager is able to attend to homework, with short breaks, for one to two hours.

Task Initiation: Begin projects without undue procrastination. A high school student doesn’t wait until the last minute to begin a project.

Planning / Prioritization: Create a roadmap to reach a goal or complete a task. It also involves being able to make decisions about what’s important to focus on and what’s not important. A teenager can formulate a plan to get a job.

Organization: Create and maintain systems to keep track of information or materials. An adolescent can organize and locate sports equipment.

Time Management: Estimate how much time one has, how to allocate it, and how to stay within time limits and deadlines. It also involves a sense that time is important. A high school student can establish a schedule to meet task deadlines.

Goal-Directed Persistence: Set a goal, follow through to its completion, and not be distracted by competing interests. A teenager can earn and save money over time to buy something important.

Flexibility: Revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information or mistakes. It relates to an adaptability to changing conditions. A high school student can accept an alternative such as a different job when the first choice is not available.

Metacognition: Stand back and take a birds-eye view of oneself in a situation. It is the ability to problem solve. It also includes self-monitoring and self-evaluative skills (e.g. asking yourself, “How am I doing?” or “How did I do?”) A teenager can monitor and critique her performance and improve it by observing others who are more skilled.

Stress Tolerance: Thrive in stressful situations and to cope with uncertainty, change, and performance demands.

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“Jamie has been working for several months with my son who is building a healthy, independent life after completing a treatment program. He returned to school and work, but has needed help organizing his life, prioritizing his goals and developing executive functions skills. Jamie has been a tremendous support for both my son and myself.”
-E.K.