Executive functioning skills help people stay focused/pay attention, plan and organize tasks, multi-task and hold information in working memory long enough to do something with it. They also help us control our behavior and emotions allowing for delayed gratification.
A person's executive functioning skills make it possible for them to be more successful and independent at home and school.
Specifically executive functioning skills include:
- Inhibition: The capacity for a child/adolescent to think before they act – the ability to resist the urge to say or do something without thinking about it first
- Working Memory: The ability for a child/adolescent to hold information in short-term memory while performing tasks-the ability to hold onto directions or information long enough to do something with that information
- Emotional Control: The ability for a child/adolescent to manage emotions so that they can still achieve goals and complete tasks
- SustainedAttention: The capacity for a child/adolescent to maintain attention to a situation or task even if there are things in their environment that could cause distractibility, fatigue, or boredom.
- Initiation: The ability for a child/adolescent to begin projects without being asked and without procrastination-in an efficient or timely fashion.
- Planning/Organization: The ability for a child/adolescent to create a step-by-step approach to reach a goal or to complete a task-knowing what is important to focus on and what is not important.
- Organization ofMaterials: The ability for a child/adolescent to create and maintain a system to keep track of belongings or materials.
- FlexibleThinking/Shifting: The ability for a child/adolescent to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information or mistakes-being adaptable to changing conditions, changing rules and coming up with a “plan b”when given feedback or a need to transition to different ways of doing things.
- Time Management: The capacity for a child/adolescent to estimate how much time they have or need to start and then complete a task within time limits and before deadlines.
- Metacognition: The ability for a child/adolescent to stand back and look at their own abilities-self‐monitor and self‐evaluate their own skills (e.g., asking themselves,“How am I doing?” “Am I staying focused?” or “What do I need to do different/better?”).
