7 Strategies for Improving Executive Functioning Skills
You might not realize it but you tap into your executive functioning skills every day. Executive functioning skills are at work when you create a plan of attack for your workday and when you roll with unexpected events that come up. They’re exercised when you figure out how you’re going to get your kids to and from their evening activities while also making time to prepare and serve dinner. Your child uses executive strategies when they take a test or plan out a school project.
Executive functioning skills are higher-level skills that require a functional relationship between working memory, flexible thinking and self-control. When any underlying skills are weak, executive tasks can be frustrating or impossible to accomplish.
Here’s a look at seven strategies you can implement to help your child boost their executive functioning skills:
#1: Introduce memory-building exercises.
There are plenty of free and inexpensive apps that help sharpen working memory. Lumosity, Clockwork Brain and Braingle are just a few. Research to find apps that are age-appropriate for your child.
Playing games with your child can also help them boost their working memory by demanding that they remember the rules while also strategizing and keeping up with what’s happening in the game.
Encourage your child to become an active reader. Teach them how to highlight text that may appear on a quiz or will be helpful for the book report they’ll be writing. Encourage them to take notes either in a notebook or on sticky notes that they can leave in the book to mark important passages.
#2: Help your child become better at setting and accomplishing goals.
If your child struggles with goal setting, start small. Say it’s Wednesday and your child is overwhelmed by their messy bedroom. Help them set goals to get it back in order.
Maybe their Wednesday goal is to sort the dirty laundry from the clean laundry, putting the dirty laundry down the chute and folding and putting away their clean clothes. Then ask them what an easy Thursday goal could be. Perhaps it’s bringing their shoes downstairs and vacuuming their bedroom floor.
Teach your child that the best way to eat the proverbial elephant is one bite at a time. Helping them set and achieve goals will teach them the power of goal-setting—they’ll love the sense of accomplishment they feel when they complete that overwhelming task!
The more often your child sets a goal and maps out a path to accomplishing it, the easier it will become.
#3: Teach your child organizational hacks.
Organization can be elusive for children with weak executive skills. As a parent, there are a number of ways you can help:
- Buy your child a planner and teach them how to keep track of their homework assignments, sports practices and other after-school activities. Encourage them to add assignments after each class, add practices and meetings as soon as they’re scheduled and get in the habit of checking their planner every morning and every day after school.
- Encourage your child to put sticky notes on their nightstand, the bathroom mirror or the breakfast table to keep track of important to-dos around the house or to remember to pack their cleats for after-school practice.
- Keep a stash of extra school supplies like notebooks, folders, pencils, pens, erasers, index cards, etc. in an easy-to-access place so your child can replenish their school supplies as they run low.
- If you have a younger child, designate a special backpack nook where they can hang their backpack every day after school. Set out an “In” bin where they can put graded homework and parent information that teachers send home when they unload their folder.
#4: Incentivize your child
There’s nothing wrong with incentives and children with weak executive functioning skills typically struggle with self-motivation. Sit down with your child and write down your list of goals. Then come up with something they can work towards as a reward on their path to achieving these goals. Maybe they earn a certain number of points or gems each week that they can cash in for various small items or bank for a larger item.
You know what motivates your child. Be creative and customize the reward system to make it effective. Just know that younger children may need smaller, more immediate rewards.
#5: Encourage your child to take frequent breaks
Tapping into executive functioning skills is draining for anyone but even more so when those skills are weak. Encourage your child to take frequent breaks when they perform tasks that require the use of those skills, such as after test-taking. 3-10 minute breaks interspersed during or between these more demanding tasks can help them refill their “think tank” and avoid frustration or meltdown.
#6: Keep your child moving!
Few initiatives make a bigger dent in boosting executive functioning than being active! ADDitude reports that regular exercise helps to refuel your child’s executive skills tank and even expands their capacity.
#7: Help your child avoid procrastination
When tasks are daunting because of poor memory, weak organizational skills or other related challenges, procrastination can take root and compound the problem. If you want to help your child overcome procrastination, work with them to devise a daily schedule that blocks off time for daily homework, school projects, chores, etc. Many children need that structure (and a planner that clearly delineates their “to-dos”!) to keep motivated and on-task.
Do you have a child who struggles with weak executive skills?
In addition to these helpful strategies, we encourage you to take our free Brain Quiz and explore our website to learn more about how our brain training services can help!
