A Guide to Executive Function Challenges in Children

Executive function is the set of skills that helps us plan, organize, manage time, and get things done. When those skills are hard for a child, school becomes hard too. The good news is that these skills can be taught.

What Are Executive Function Challenges?

Executive dysfunction is an umbrella term for difficulties that make it hard to manage time and complete tasks. Planning, problem-solving, organizing, and time management can feel overwhelming. At school, students may struggle to keep materials in order, manage their emotions, keep a schedule, and finish their work. They may have trouble with homework, with long-term projects, and with getting to school on time with everything they need.

The struggle often grows in middle and high school, when students are expected to work more independently. Children may find it hard to:

• Process information
• Control impulses
• Organize materials and plan tasks
• Keep a schedule
• Break a long-term goal into steps
• Estimate how long something will take

Weak working memory makes it hard to remember assignments. Adults may call the child lazy or unmotivated. The child may feel always behind and always letting people down, and their confidence takes a hit.

How Are Executive Function Challenges Identified?

There is no single known cause. The challenges may be present from birth but go unnoticed until a child is expected to manage their own responsibilities. They often appear alongside learning disabilities, ADHD, depression, or a brain injury.

A parent or teacher usually notices first. Rather than one test, students are typically evaluated on specific skills: attention, impulse control, working memory, organization and planning, forming ideas, and switching between tasks. A psychologist may use games and tasks and observe behavior.

Is There a Test?

No single test can confirm executive dysfunction, and there are no set diagnostic criteria. Evaluators measure different parts of executive function and rule out conditions with similar signs. Common tools include:

• BRIEF (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function): a questionnaire completed by the student, parents, and teachers.
• Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale: screens for problems with organization, self-restraint, motivation, emotional control, and time management.
• CEFI (Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory): measures strengths and weaknesses in children ages 5 to 18, rated by parents and teachers, with students 12 and older taking part.
• Conners 3 rating scales: measure behavior in children ages 6 to 18 and can flag difficulty in subjects like reading, spelling, and math.

Building Coping Strategies

Students may never outgrow executive function challenges, but they can learn strategies that work. Therapists, tutors, and coaches often help with specific areas. Students can try sticky notes, index cards, or lists to find what works for them. Younger children often do well with star charts and rewards. Clocks, timers, time-tracking apps, journals, and whiteboards help students see their tasks and their time. Outside accountability helps too.

Teach the Plan Before the Tools

Tools are not enough on their own. First, students need to learn how to break a project into tasks and put them on a timeline. A child handed a ten-page paper may not know the steps, how long each one takes, or what they need. Try this:

1. Have your child brainstorm every step on a whiteboard or big sheet of paper, in any order. Include small steps, like "get a new pen."
2. Add any steps they missed.
3. Turn the list into an ordered checklist with a timeline, how long each step should take, and the tools needed for each one.

A quiet, well-lit space with plenty of supplies helps, with an adult nearby to help and keep things on track. The same process works for morning routines and class schedules.

The Power of a Checklist

Students with executive function challenges often feel they are failing at things that come easily to classmates, even when they are working hard. Show them they can succeed, even in small ways.

Lists are one of the simplest and most effective tools. They make sure nothing is missed, lighten the load on working memory, and take the guesswork out of getting started. You will probably need to build the first lists together. See each task through your child's eyes and break it into every part. Instead of "pack backpack," write "check backpack for homework" and "put lunch in backpack."

Useful lists include an evening list, a morning list, a "what goes in my backpack" list, and a weekly clean-out list. Since you will use them again and again, consider laminating them.

Schools That Teach Executive Function

Some students do fine in public school with a well-run IEP. Others do better at a school that teaches executive function directly, with small classes, trained teachers, and a plan to help students manage on their own. With the right support, students with executive function challenges go on to succeed in college and in rewarding careers.

How Gow Can Help

The Gow School is a coed, college-preparatory boarding and day school for students in grades 5 through post-graduate with dyslexia, related language-based learning differences, and executive function challenges. Our Executive Function Coaching program teaches planning, organization, and self-advocacy one-on-one. Since 1926, we have helped students build the skills and confidence to succeed in college and beyond.