7 minute read
Understanding the Development of Executive Functioning
By Olivia Moores, Upper Division Learning Specialist
“Set the alarm, get up, brush your teeth, make your coffee to-go, grab your keys, phone, wallet, and out the door by 7:45AM in case there is traffic.” An interior monologue adults are all too familiar with, but how and when did we learn to do these things in an efficient and effective way? It’s second nature right? Wrong. Which might be the reason why you are pulling your hair out every time your child forgets something at home or at school. Daily routines and habits that have become second nature to most were once skills we learned and developed over time. This brain function controlled by the frontal lobe is called executive functioning. It allows us to plan, focus our attention, and juggle multiple tasks at the same time. Executive functioning is not a stand-alone brain function; it is actually made up of three areas: cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control. These three areas may develop and change at different rates, creating strengths and weaknesses in your executive functioning abilities. These brain functions continue to develop through learned strategies that have become engrained skills for adults but need to be explicitly taught to children.
Cognitive Flexibility
It’s 2PM on a Sunday afternoon when your child tells you, “I have to build a 3D model of an animal cell for school tomorrow.” Do they have the poster board? No. Do they have their science book? No. Do they have all the materials they need to build? No. After a wave of frustration that washes over you, you begin to ask serious questions. “How long did you think this project was going to take you? You didn’t think to bring any of your stuff home? Or maybe tell me about this project last week?” What you may not think about at that moment is that your child’s cognitive flexibility is not fully developed, and they may not have the strategies to plan ahead for projects like the 3D animal cell model. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to switch between tasks and adapt to changes in the environment. “Referred to by shifting, attention switching or task switching, and includes both the ability to disengage from irrelevant information in a previous task and focus on relevant information in a forthcoming task” (Buttelmann & Karbach 2017). A child with poor cognitive flexibility may have trouble keeping track of due dates, long term planning, task completion, and managing multiple materials or tasks. The development of cognitive flexibility can be explained as “rapid increase during early and middle childhood suggesting that this may be a period of high plasticity and malleability sensitive to developmental as well as environmentally driven changes'' (Buttelmann & Karbach 2017). Due to the progression of cognitive flexibility from early childhood to adolescence, strategies and interventions should be put in place to help your child develop stronger cognitive flexibility related to a child’s academic achievement.
Solution Inhibitory Control
Finally, after gathering all the materials required to begin the 3D animal cell project with your child, you sit down and read the directions of the project. Before you are able to get through the first line of the directions, your child is already reaching for scissors and glue to cut out their poster board. While it may seem like an easy task to sit down, read the directions, and create a list of steps for completion to us, it is actually very challenging for children who have not fully developed their inhibitory control skills. Inhibitory control refers to the ability to sustain attention and regulate emotions during task completion. A child with poor inhibitory control may struggle to focus on one task at a time, become easily frustrated with assignments, or struggle to recognize when something isn’t working. This cognitive function continually develops from early childhood to adulthood with “dramatic improvement from early childhood to adolescence” (Peterson et al. 2016).
Providing children with a large color-coded calendar so they are able to see impending due dates will help develop their long-term planning skills. Children can also benefit from chunking a project into smaller steps and estimating the time each step will take. Providing children with a visual and tangible time for each step will help them plan ahead for bigger long-term projects. An additional way to help develop a child’s cognitive flexibility is by having a child talk out how they will complete a task using the 5 W’s. What are you going to need? How much time will this take? When does this need to be done? Who will you need help from? Where will this project get done? Verbally mapping out a project like this may help your child see holes in their planning or help them recognize factors they may not have previously thought about.
Solution
Due to the impulsivity that comes with a lack of inhibitory control, children may benefit from having explicit routines and procedures for task completion. If children are required to follow specific steps before beginning a task, you may see a reduction in impulsivity. An example of a clear routine for work completion may be (1) read directions 3 times, (2) highlight or write down important information, (3) make a list of all materials you may need, (4) make a checklist for each step of the project, (5) work on each step for 15 minutes and take a 5-minute break after each 15-minute period. When children are provided with structured tasks and predictable routines they are less likely to act out of impulse resulting in more streamlined task completion.
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Working Memory
While you're sitting at the kitchen table, your child starts to work on step two of the project; (1) labeling each part of the animal cell and (2) listing its function. You repeat the directions to your child and then head into the kitchen to make a snack. In about 5 minutes, your child says, “I’m done!” You walk over and see that all they have done is label the parts of the cell. What should have been an easy two step-task has now turned into you telling your child they are not done to which they respond, “I did, I labeled the parts of the cell.” A child’s inability to take in and execute two-step directions correlated to the assigned task is a lack of working memory skills on display. Working memory is the ability to take in information and manipulate it to perform a task. Your child may have repeated the directions back to you, but if they have a weak or underdeveloped working memory, they may struggle to remember the steps of a direction and complete the full assigned task. As children develop their ability to retain and manipulate more parts of a concept also increases. A well-developed working memory can hold about 7 items plus a few more at a time; an underdeveloped or weak working memory can only hold about 5 items. When children are given more items than their working memory can hold, that is where we begin to see gaps in execution of tasks (Cowan 2016).
Solution
In order to help children with developing working memory, reducing the number of items a child has to hold at one time should be the priority. Strategies like writing down the tasks with your child so they have a visual to refer to or chunking steps into bite-sized pieces will help children manipulate the information they receive more effectively. Limiting the amount of multitask demands we put on children can also help their working memory. For example, instead of doing homework and eating a snack, allow children to have a snack break and then return to their homework. Providing children with a dedicated and quiet workspace will reduce the number of external stimuli and give the child more opportunity to take information in rather than filter distractions.
Connecting the Dots
It is important to remember that the three areas of executive functioning may develop and change at different rates, creating varying strengths and weaknesses in your child’s executive functioning capabilities. The efficacy of a child’s executive functioning is directly impacted by their level of development. It is critical to remember that tasks adults may find as second nature require more mental energy and brain function for developing children. Executive functioning is an essential skill that helps children both in and out of school. Children who struggle with components of executive functioning may experience affected performance at school, find difficulty forming or maintaining relationships, mood issues, low self-esteem, avoidance of difficult tasks, low motivation or loss of interest in activities (Villines & Juby 2022). It is important that we provide them with strategies and support to help reduce feelings of frustration and stress. Here are a few tips and tricks to help meet children where they are in their executive functioning capabilities.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
Disclaimer: These are not overnight fixes but ways we can support children as their brain function continues to develop.
Tips to Support Executive Functioning:
• Using a color-coded desk calendar • To-do list • Setting timers for focused work periods • Identifying time wasters • Routines for work completion • Verbal planning (5 Ws) • Repeating directions • Chunking info into bite-sized pieces • Checklists • Reduce external stimuli • Reduce multi-tasking
References for this article
