What is Executive
Functioning? Conscious control of what we think and do.
Five areas of Executive
Functioning
1.Emotional Control
2.Focus and Attention
3.Working Memory
4.Organizational Skills
5.Planning skills
Anyone who has ever been
around a child with learning differences can attest that these cause academic
difficulties. We will look at some of
these in more detail in later posts. For
now, I will give brief overview of these areas.
1.Emotional Control- This
includes turn taking, regulating emotions, easily shuts down from productive
work and has intense emotions. There is
often difficulty with confusion, anxiety and/or depression
2. Focus
and Attention- This includes the need to maintain alertness, filter out
distractions that compete for attention, resist distractions. It also includes shifting attention: if
shifted too quickly, distraction, if shifted too slowly: inattentive.
If he can’t shift, then he perseverates and has rigid thinking.
3.Working Memory: Hold information in memory long enough to do
something with it. Think of it as your
“desktop.” Verbal working memory-to hold language “online” while doing “self
talk” or inner dialogue Non-verbal
working memory enables one to have a sense of time (what does 10 minutes feel
like), sees mental visual image, ability to see in hindsight and foresight.
4.Organizational Skills-
This includes organizing materials, ideas for written and oral communication,
time and using a schedule.
5.Planning skills- used for
problem solving and acting with intention.
This includes idea – imagine end product. It also includes a sequential plan: step by
step plan with materials and time management sequence. The part is the
execution of the plan. Finally, the plan
must be evaluated.
Evaluate:
evaluate plan and end product
