Executive Function

Do you miss notes when the teacher is lecturing? Is your room or locker or cubicle a mess? Are you chronically late to things?

Executive functions are complex brain processes that enable us to perform (execute) everyday tasks. They are the underlying skills (like planning, organization, and focus) required to accomplish things like being on time or keeping your spaces clutter free. Executive function deficits can impact our schooling, our work, and even our social lives.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is commonly understood as a deficit in executive function capabilities, though not everyone with executive function struggles has ADHD.

If you research explanations of executive function, you’ll likely come across one of a few common analogies to describe these processes. You might read that executive function is like the conductor of your brain’s symphony, the air traffic control center of your brain, or the brain’s CEO. All of these analogies work but are somewhat incomplete.

Executive function is our brain’s ability to regulate ourselves toward future goals. Something is needed in the future (say, get to school on time or finish a project); what skills are needed to accomplish each step on the way to that goal? Depending on whom you read, the tasks involved with this regulation can vary from as few as seven to as many as 23.

But definitions and explanations are not why you are here (at least, not yet).

  • You’re here because your child is struggling;

  • Because there is conflict in your home, work, or school life that creates stress;

  • Because in spite of good intentions and great potential, something is always falling through the cracks;

  • Because or your child is constantly apologizing for behaviors they can’t explain;

  • Because you are constantly wondering why they can’t get this simple thing right.

If you work with me, we will talk more in the future about what ADHD and EF deficits are. But for now, I want you to know what they are not:

  • They are NOT a result of bad parenting.

  • They are NOT a lack of “good old fashioned” discipline.

  • They are NOT a moral failure of the child.

However, it is vital to understand that they are also NOT “just a phase.”

ADHD is a real disorder. Executive function struggles, while not clinically diagnosable, are real, brain-based deficits. Both can add a lot of stress to a child’s life and impair performance.

But when you dig deeper, you find someone trying their best, working harder than others, doing everything they can and still coming up short. Environments, especially in schools, can be tailor-made for failure. In the end, tremendous intelligence and wonderful, vibrant personalities go unnoticed at best, and punished at worst.

Fortunately, ADHD is not new. It is one of the most well-researched disorders in medicine, which means there is a lot of information available and many interventions that can help people with ADHD and other executive deficits thrive.

Coaching is one of those interventions. At CBC Coaching, people with ADHD and executive function challenges learn their strengths and value. They find a welcoming environment in which they learn more about their operating system while developing skills to help them become the kind of people they most want to be.