What happens when we don't teach Executive Functioning Skills?

Executive Dysfunction - An Indicator

It is not a student's fault if they lack or struggle with the executive functioning skills.

Students lack these skills because they have not learned them yet! AKA - they have not been clearly taught.

It is helpful for educators to see a lack of skills not as a deficit but an indicator that the learning environment needs improvement. As the authors of Supporting Student Executive Functions, Lisa Carey & Alexis Reid, explain,

“…executive dysfunction is about the person and their environment, not the person alone. With that in mind…think of symptoms of executive dysfunction as signs of potential trouble in your learning environments and the unmet needs of your students. To start, let’s think diagnostically about our learning environments.”

Paul Tough, in his book How Children Succeed, explains "...if we can improve a child's environment in the specific ways that lead to better executive functioning, we can increase his prospects for success in a particularly efficient way.”

Therefore, when we consider executive functions context matters - the environment as it is the driver.

What Happens If We Don't Teach Executive Functions?

What happens when teachers do not explicitly teach executive functions?

Students are less successful!

Executive functioning skills are associated with a person’s ability to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully - the stuff of learning. When students are equipped with them they are more successful.

Historically we have left the development of these skills up to chance.

A mistake we can no longer afford to make.

What Happens When A Teacher Struggles With Executive Dysfunction?

When teachers lack these skills and habits, the problems are amplified for students.

In other words, when a teacher’s lessons consistently lack structure or routine, or a teacher is disorganized, or the learning environment is ambiguous, it serves to exacerbate the challenges with executive functioning that students are already facing.

But that no longer has to be a teacher's reality!

Please, click here to pick up your copy of my book and learn how to equip yourself and your students with the executive functions that set everyone up for success!

Your partner in bettering education,