Rainbow Collaborative Coaching
Executive Function 101
Understanding Executive Function: Your Brain's Manager
Executive function (EF) is your brain's command centre. It allows you to manage tasks, thoughts, and behaviors in order to meet your goals. It's what enables you to plan, organize, and execute activities effectively, like drawing up a roadmap for success. Executive function includes cognitive (thinking) skills such as:
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Planning and Organization: Developing strategies and setting priorities.
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Working Memory: Holding and manipulating information in real-time.
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Inhibitory Control: Resisting distractions and staying focused.
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Flexibility and Adaptability: Adapting to changes and overcoming obstacles.
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Self-Monitoring and Regulation: Evaluating actions and making adjustments.
Executive function impacts how we learn, behave, and interact with the world. It influences academic and job performance, decision-making, and overall well-being. Learning about and strengthening the EF skills enhances our ability to navigate life's challenges with confidence and agency.
Challenges with Executive Function
What do challenges with Executive Function look like?
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Disorganized spaces and belongings
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Losing track of / misplacing things
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Forgetting to do important tasks, or about important events / commitments
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Difficulty starting a task
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Leaving things to the last minute
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Continuing to work on a task until it is complete
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Breaking tasks down into manageable chunks
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Identifying steps in a task
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Blurting out / not “thinking before you speak”
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Outsized emotional reactions - the amount of upset or excitement is higher than typical
Challenges with EF can impact us in every area of our lives, from school and work, to interpersonal relationships, and even our ability to take care of our bodies (ex: eating regularly, showering regularly, sleep hygiene, etc.)
Who experiences challenges with EF?
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Everyone! Everyone has areas of relative strength and challenge with EF. Executive function looks different from day to day, too. Some days, cognitive (brain) function and energy are higher, allowing for more ease with tasks that require EF. Some days involve fewer tasks that require lots of EF skills, which might look like having more ability at the end of the day to do tasks that are often too difficult
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Neurodivergent people - including people with ADHD, ASD, FASD, OCD, PTSD, Reading Disability (formerly called Dyslexia), Math Disability (formerly called Dyscalculia), Epilepsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, and more - often experience more significant and pervasive challenges with executive function that impact their day to day lives in substantial ways
Who can improve their EF skills?
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Everyone! Like any other skill, no baby is born with executive functioning skills. All EF skills are learned, practiced, and developed over time.
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The best time to start learning about and develop EF skills is while the brain is still developing. EF skills are located in the prefrontal cortex, which is the last region of the brain to fully develop. In neurotypical people, the prefrontal cortex is thought to reach full maturity around age 25. In the case of ADHD, executive functions develop 30 - 40% slower, suggesting that the ADHD brain does not reach full maturity until around age 35.
Good News!
Whatever your age, it's never too late
Neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to grow and change, means that human beings are capable of learning and actually changing the way that the brain is structured and organized, throughout our lives! This means that even if your brain has reached full maturity, learning about and practicing EF skills still has the ability to greatly impact your life in a positive way.