What are Executive Functions

EXPLAINED

* Resource:  How Children and Adults Can Build Core Capabilities for Life from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (5 minutes).

Executive functions are our *core capabilities. 

According to Dr. Jack Naglieri, “Executive Function is the most important ability we have because it provides us a way to decide how to do what we choose to do.” They are the cognitive processes that enable us to *plan ahead, set goals and meet them. Put simply, executive functions are our operating system, our personal air traffic control tower. 

Key foundational executive functions include time management, planning and prioritization, organization (of both thinking and spaces), response inhibition and focus.  These enable us to figure out what we need to attend to, break large tasks into manageable chunks, map out our day, establish the priorities, show up on time for meetings, show up on time for friends, realize we may need help and seek it, hand-in assignments on time, etc.

The brain develops from the back to the front. Given that our executive functions are mostly housed in our pre-frontal cortex, right behind our forehead, this management system does not reach full maturity until somewhere between our mid-twenties and early thirties, well into adulthood. Critically, executive functions have nothing to do with intelligence and can be developed. Building executive function skills with targeted strategies tailored to each client can offer not only increased confidence and decreased stress, but also a greater sense of control.