Cultivating confidence, independence, and a life-long love of learning

Individualizing executive function coaching for children in kindergarten through eighth grade

What is executive function?

Video created by Center on the Developing Child

Executive function skills, often referred to as the air traffic control system in the brain, help us manage our responsibilities, regulate our emotions, and achieve our goals. We are not born with executive function skills, but rather acquire them through repeated practice. Our executive function skills don’t fully develop until our mid-twenties, when the prefrontal cortex has completed maturation. Thanks to neuroplasticity- the brain’s ability to change, adapt, and form new connections- childhood and adolescence is the ideal time to hone these skills.

The Skills

React & Respond:

  • The ability to process emotions in order to achieve goals, complete tasks, or control and direct behavior.

  • The capacity to 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.

  • The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information or mistakes.

  • The ability to thrive in stressful situations and to cope with uncertainty, change, and performance demands.

Plan & Organize:

  • The capacity to create and maintain systems to keep track of information or materials.

  • The capability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to complete a task, in addition to determining what is most important.

  • The ability to estimate how much time one has, how to allocate it, and how to stay within time limits and deadlines.

  • The ability to hold information in memory 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.

Achieve goals:

  • The ability to begin projects without undue procrastination, in an efficient or timely fashion.

  • The capacity to maintain attention to a situation or task in spite of distractibility or fatigue.

  • The capacity to have a goal, follow through to the completion of the goal, and not be put off by or distracted by competing interests.

  • The ability to stand back and take a birds-eye view of oneself in a situation. It is an ability to self-monitor and observe how you problem solve.

Skill definitions adapted from Smart But Scattered Kids.