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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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Executive function and self-regulation (EF/SR) skills provide critical supports for learning and development, and while we aren't born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and practice. This 16-page guide (available for download, below), describes a variety of activities and games that represent age-appropriate ways for adults to support and strengthen various components of EF/SR in children.

Each chapter of this guide contains activities suitable for a different age group, from infants to teenagers. The guide may be read in its entirety (which includes the introduction and references) or in discrete sections geared to specific age groups.

Suggested citation: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2014). Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

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Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence

An activities guide for building executive function

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Activities Guide: Enhancing & Practicing Executive Function Skills

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Executive function and self-regulation (EF/SR) skills provide critical supports for learning and development, and while we aren't born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and practice. This 16-page guide (available for download, below), describes a variety of activities and games that represent age-appropriate ways for adults to support and strengthen various components of EF/SR in children.

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"Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Functions"

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Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University.
Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning. Today as teacher educators, we are pleased that our graduates are increasing students' cognitive, metacognitive, and executive functioning in classrooms around the world (as just one example, Texas teacher Diane Dahl blogs on teaching metacognition).

What Are Executive Functions?

Through explicit instruction and modeling, students can come to recognize the importance of taking charge of their executive functioning in their academic endeavors and later in their careers.

Executive functions can be defined as the awareness and directive capacities of the mind. By wielding these skills and abilities, students decide where to focus their attention and which tasks to undertake. As a general rule of thumb, when students of any age have difficulty completing developmentally appropriate academic tasks on their own, executive functioning may be at the root of the problem.

In the human brain, executive functions are primarily regulated by the prefrontal regions (just behind the forehead) of the frontal lobes. Neuroscientists and psychologists have made significant gains in understanding the brain's executive functioning over the past several decades.

An appropriate metaphor that often helps students and educators alike understand the role of executive functioning in thinking and behavior is to imagine an orchestra conductor. The conductor chooses what work the orchestra will perform, decides how to interpret that work, sets the tempo for the performance, and directs each section of musicians to contribute at the appropriate time. In the same way, executive functioning allows us to:

1. Activate awareness

2. Self-regulate by cueing, directing, and coordinating the various cognitive skills necessary for moment-to-moment functioning

3. Establish goals and make long-term plans

4. Maintain a self-image of being in charge of our learning and actions

Students can and should be taught to develop their executive functioning as a path to self-directed learning and self-determined living.

Making Connections

We have found that educators today are more interested than ever in teaching students to wield powerful learning and thinking tools. In other blog posts and articles we have written with Edutopia and elsewhere, we have shared popular, practical strategies for increasing students' executive functioning by teaching them how and when to employ cognitive assets, metacognition, working memory, and selective attention. All of these learning tools come together under the umbrella of executive functioning.

Incorporating instruction on executive functions into content lessons emphasizes that:

1. Students are in charge of their learning.

2. Honing their use of these skills and abilities will improve their performance in school and beyond.

Teaching students that they are the "conductors of their own brains" conveys the need to master a wide range of thinking and learning tools for use across core academic subjects, in their personal lives, and later in their college years and careers. Success in the 21st century demands self-directed learners and independent, creative thinkers.

Classroom Strategies to Support Executive Functioning

From elementary through high school and into adulthood, students will benefit from these opportunities to understand and develop their executive functioning:

1. Introduce the concept of executive functions and refer to these learning tools explicitly and often.

Define executive functioning, and lead discussions on how being aware of their thinking and taking control of their learning can help students achieve success in school and other aspects of their lives. A key message is that using executive functions often and effectively doesn't just happen -- we all have to work toward developing these abilities. Apply metaphors of executive functioning (the brain's conductor or air traffic controller, for example), and invite students to share examples of how they can use executive functioning in their lessons and activities outside of school. How do adults use executive functioning in their jobs? How do the actions of characters in stories demonstrate executive functioning?

2. Provide student-centered opportunities to put executive functioning to work.

Include students in setting learning goals for lessons, and let them choose their own books for independent reading and subjects for classroom projects. Giving students choices enhances motivation by giving them a chance to think about subjects that interest them, and also underscores that they are in charge of their learning.

3. Be the "prefrontal cortex" for your class.

Articulate and model effective thinking practices. For example, clearly state your intent for a learning activity and demonstrate the steps of planning, carrying out, and assessing the outcomes of the activity. Identify up front any thorny problems and tough spots in new lesson content, and talk through possible strategies for identifying and overcoming any learning difficulties that arise. Use cues to remind students when activating their executive functions might be useful.

4. Catch students using executive functions effectively.

Congratulate students who recognize and correct mistakes to emphasize that mistakes are prime learning opportunities. Recognize not just the finished product, but also the hard work and the steps of planning and execution that students accomplished in completing a big project. Especially celebrate the successes of students who've struggled with taking charge of their learning in the past.

5. Clearly state classroom rules that support positive and productive learning interactions.

A well-organized environment with predictable rules allows students to more easily focus on the learning tasks at hand.

How do you approach teaching and encouraging students to develop their executive functioning in your classroom?

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Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Functions | Edutopia

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Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University. Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning.

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Executive Function Questionnaire Middle Grades

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Executive Function Questionnaire Middle Grades

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"Strategies to Strengthen Executive Function"

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A reader of my last post agreed with the points made about self-regulation failure, but noted, "when the [ procrastination] habit has been 'cemented,' things are not so simple." Another reader wrote, "Please tell more about how self-regulatory skills can be learned." Here are some research-based strategies to strengthen executive function.

In a blog post a couple of years ago, I focused on a study published by Laura Rabin, Joshua Fogel and Katherine Nutter-Upham (Brooklyn College of the City University of New York) relating executive function to procrastination. Their focus is well placed - procrastination as self-regulation failure. They write,

"Procrastination is increasingly recognized as involving a failure in self-regulation such that procrastinators, relative to non-procrastinators, may have a reduced ability to resist social temptations, pleasurable activities, and immediate rewards . . . These individuals also fail to make efficient use of internal and external cues to determine when to initiate, maintain, and terminate goal-directed actions" (p. 345).

The characteristics the authors summarize associated with procrastination are numerous:

Reduced agency

Disorganization

Poor impulse and emotional control

Poor planning and goal setting

Reduced use of meta-cognitive skills

Distractibility

Poor task persistence

Time and task management deficiencies

A recent reply to my blog post reflects similar problems. A reader noted,
"As someone who scored very low on the "conscientiousness" scale of the Big Five, I am disheartened. I believe I can learn these self-regulatory skills, but I don't know where to start. Meanwhile, my endeavors suffer. Although I have improved over time, I can't seem to shake the tendency to procrastinate, even on projects that interest me. Performance anxiety, and a lack of ability to focus, plague me. I have found that some projects present less of a challenge than others, and I am trying to work my way into a professional position that would involve those kinds of projects. Yet, in general, I procrastinate everything. It is an exhausting way to live."
This quote and the research by Rabin and her colleagues reveal a common underlying self-regulatory system commonly referred to as "executive function" associated primarily with the pre-frontal cortex.

Executive function consists of numerous self-regulatory processes such as:

novel problem solving,

modification of behavior in response to new information,

planning and generating of strategies for complex actions.

Although there is limited previous research that implicates the frontal system network in the self-regulatory failure of procrastination, no previous research had examined which aspects of executive function were most strongly related to procrastination. This is the gap that Rabin and her colleagues have begun to fill with their neuropsychological research.

One of the reasons I like this paper so much is that the authors wrote a very good discussion section where they consider a number of implications of their findings. Specifically, they discuss the implications for remediation of problematic delay.

Here's a list of the key ideas. Each is of interest for those individuals who are seeking to procrastinate less. I use many if not all of these strategies with my own students who struggle with needless, voluntary delay on their work. Each is also a part of my own personal work as I continue to develop the habits that I want in my life. To keep the blog post manageable, I have added links to other relevant posts as appropriate.

In relation to the Initiate, Plan/Organize, Organization of Materials components of executive function, possible strategies to increase executive function and decrease procrastination include:

In relation to the Inhibit, Self-Monitor, Working Memory, and Task Monitor aspects of executive function, strategies include:

Focus on "giving in to feel good" by first developing an awareness of this process and its subversive effects on achievement. Keep aware of the fact that we procrastinate for the short-term gain of task avoidance - feel good now, pay later. This will help present self make different choices about future self.

Use strategies like distraction-inhibiting implementation intentions to shield one intention from a competing intention or to manage intrusive negative emotions associated with an aversive task.

Other volitional skills or competencies to develop include:
The trouble with lists
The problem with a list of strategies is that it's tempting to try and use them all. I've found that this simply won't work, at least not at first.

An analogy with sports is that we might have 6 things that could be improved in our performance (e.g., tennis or golf stroke, running stride), but trying to change all of these at once will usually make us unable to do anything at all, and it is impossible to focus on all of the strategies at once. The key to effective coaching is to identify a "keystone" strategy that might be the first to master.

As a former tennis coach, I found that this was often as simple as keeping my student's attention on "get the racket back sooner" or "follow the ball with your racket" (i.e., better follow through). I could spend hours feeding balls to a student coaching him or her to "get the racket back." It takes this repetitive supported (scaffolded) practice before a new technique or strategy will become a muscle memory or habit in the individual's stroke. The same is true for change in other areas of our lives.

As you read and re-read the list above, think about the ONE thing you will do differently. This will need to be a conscious, effortful process for some time as you establish a new habit around this strategy. When you "own it," then you can move on to another strategy. In short, change comes slowly, but change will happen if you commit yourself to the process.
A final caution
Of course, I too see the irony here as we try to bootstrap more effective executive function with processes related to executive function. I say this because it's all too easy to use this as an excuse not to try and try again. We all have existing executive function skills that we can leverage to our advantage. What is required is daily commitment and some "sweat equity." I don't know anyone who doesn't require this. This is part of the human condition.

Rabin, L.A., Fogel, J., & Nutter-Upham, K.E. (2011). Academic procrastination in college students: The role of self-reported executive function. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33, 344-357.

To hear Dr. Rabin discuss this research, listen to this episode of iProcrastinate Podcasts.

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Strategies to Strengthen Executive Function

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A reader of my last post agreed with the points made about self-regulation failure, but noted, "when the [procrastination] habit has been 'cemented,' things are not so simple." Another reader wrote, "Please tell more about how self-regulatory skills can be learned." Here are some research-based strategies to strengthen executive function.

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"Three Brain-Based Teaching Strategies to Build Executive Functioning in Students"

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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Executive function skills are essential for school achievement, success in work, and healthy lives.

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Executive Function Schoology Course: Request for Access

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Executive Function Schoology Course: Request for Access

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Log in to Schoology
Click on Course "Join"
Use access Code QVS68-23VKV

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Dartmouth University Academic Skills Center

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Dartmouth University Academic Skills Center

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Meet with an academic coach 1:1 to personalize your academic goals, course choices, and study skills.

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Executive Function Questionnaire Grades 1-3

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Executive Function Questionnaire Grades 1-3

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Child Mind Institute Resources for Teachers, Students and Parents

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Child Mind Institute Resources for Teachers, Students and Parents

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Helping Kids Who Struggle With Executive Functions - Child Mind Institute

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Learning specialists discuss how to help kids who have problems with executive functions stay organized and on top of their responsibilities.