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Executive function (EF) is a term that describes a set of skills that play an important role in the development of children's abilities to be prepared for and successful in accessing academic and social growth. The ability to self-regulate emotions and impulse control, switch attention between tasks, optimize working memory, and hold information in your head while acquiring more information are all executive function skills. Executive functioning skills become especially critical when students reach middle-school age and are faced with situations and assignments requiring them to manage stress and use such skills as critical problem solving, strong communication, conflict management skills, persistence and working through challenges, task initiation, time management, responsible decisionmaking, and project planning. [...]the crucial development of time management, task initiation, intentional focus and persistence through obstacles are skills typically developed in the high school years, but many gifted students face this development earlier in middle school.
You have probably heard the term executive function, or executive dysfunction, at some point in the course of raising your gifted child, but did anyone really explain to you what it is or what they meant by the term?
What Is Executive Function?
There is a lot packed into those two words and they are important for parents to understand. Executive function (EF) is a term that describes a set of skills that play an important role in the development of children's abilities to be prepared for and successful in accessing academic and social growth. EF is frequently defined as a combination of neurobiological and psychological processes! that manage inhibitory control? or response inhibition,' working memory,' and cognitive flexibility." The Harvard Center for Child Development describes EF as the "air traffic control center" for the brain." In other words, these skills help us to navigate the flood of information that our senses gather all day long, as well as our physical and emotional responses to that information.
The ability to self-regulate emotions and impulse control, switch attention between tasks, optimize working memory, and hold information in your head while acquiring more information are all executive function skills. As children become young adults, these skills mature and include metacognition (the ability to think about one's thinking), planning and organization skills, reasoning, and being able to consider consequences and other peoples' feelings and perceptions.
EF develops rapidly in infancy and continues to develop into adulthood. Different executive functions reach full development at different ages; working memory generally reaches full development levels by 12 years of age, while cognitive flexibility reaches full development at 15 years of age." Executive functioning skills become especially critical when students reach middle-school age and are faced with situations and assignments requiring them to manage stress and use such skills as critical problem solving, strong communication, conflict management skills, persistence and working through challenges, task initiation, time management, responsible decisionmaking, and project planning. These abilities are vital to students' success in meeting the academic and psycho-social demands of middle school, high school, college, and launching professional careers.
EF and Giftedness
There is some evidence that components of executive function and giftedness might be related. For example, some studies have found that young children who are able to self-regulate well are more likely to foster a warm response from caregivers, which supports additional growth in their self-regulation skills. This creates a cycle of support in which both caregiver and child reward one another: the child by self-regulating more intentionally and the caregiver by paying more attention, which rewards the child for the self-regulation. Other studies have found that gifted students tended to score higher than nonidentified peers in working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, problem-solving, and planning, but not necessarily in inhibitory control.'
Twice-exceptional students are often able to mitigate challenges using metacognitive strategies better than average students. For example, students who are identified as both gifted and having ADHD may have a lower working memory and inhibitory control but are able to be more cognitively flexible and can lean on planning and metacognition skills to recognize the patterns in their thinking. Through that, they can prepare supports for themselves that work to keep them on task, like the Pomodoro technique or task bundling when completing homework or tasks that they find tedious. The Pomodoro technique breaks tasks into chunks of about 25 minutes with timed breaks in between. This allows the student to work for a bit, and then take a scheduled break, then return to work. It is one of many techniques used by children and adults who are struggling to focus on a task (see the sidebar for more suggestions of ways parents can support children's executive function).
Gifted students appear to acquire strategies for problem solving more quickly than their peers and are more likely to use complex and elaborate strategies than others. They are also more flexible in their thinking and are better able to select the right strategy to employ for the right problem. This is likely due to having greater insight into the problem posed and a greater repertoire of potential problem-solving strategies."
What Do Parents Need to Know About EF and Giftedness?
Giftedness might place additional and unexpected challenges on executive function skills. For example, evidence suggests that gifted children have greater EF in most areas except for inhibitory control." This means that some gifted children may get passed over for identification for gifted programs due to behavioral issues in school. Additionally, gifted students may require additional support to develop specific areas of their executive function skills because their challenges may arrive sooner in their development than their peers because of their giftedness. For example, the crucial development of time management, task initiation, intentional focus and persistence through obstacles are skills typically developed in the high school years, but many gifted students face this development earlier in middle school. Those who are accelerated and the profoundly gifted may need additional scaffolding (supporting these skills by having the processes broken down and modeled for them) to develop successfully in this area. There are many things we can do to support the growth and development of these executive function skills.
How Can Parents Support EF Development?
In early childhood, the most important thing a caregiver can do is develop healthy attachment with their child. Ensuring that your child feels secure with you is quite possibly the most important way you can ensure that they will feel prepared to handle the world and everything in it when they eventually venture out on their own. As they grow into adolescents, the way you respond to them matters. Parents need to create a sensitive and supportive environment." Highly supportive environments reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) levels in children, and lowered cortisol leads to increased EF in the long term."
Some of the most effective options for refining executive function skills in adolescents are mindfulness practices or some kind of physical activity combined with character development, such as is found in many martial arts programs, yoga, or some club sports." Interestingly, comparative studies of physical activity programs on executive function found that if character development was not integrated into the programs, they had the opposite effect, causing a decline in executive function." Parents may want to inquire before placing their children in sports, dance, or martial arts program about the role of character development in the curriculum and instruction and keep watch over its implementation.
In addressing academics, keep in mind that while your gifted child may be quite capable of accessing advanced material, they may need support in deciphering complex instructions, breaking extended projects into smaller chunks, developing time management skills, and learning how to balance their workload and rest. As a parent and former middle school teacher of the gifted, one of the most difficult parts of helping gifted students to complete projects was helping them to refine their project plan so that it was precise, robust, and had a realistic timeline. Once projects begin, they need to learn how to adjust their timelines when setbacks arise, and of course, understand that setbacks will arise.
But How Do You Do №?
It is fairly simple (which is not to say it is always easy). First, it is important to consistently address your childs distress. If they are frustrated, discouraged, sad, or upset about something, it is worthy of addressing. Even if the issue seems trivial to you, remember that this is the first time (or maybe the fifth) that they are experiencing it and they need help developing the skills to handle it. Try to remember that you want them to solve their issue and you are there to help them develop emotional regulation and metacognitive skills, while they do the actual problem-solving.
Avoid swooping in to rescue every time. When you solve their problems for them, two things happen. First, they develop a sort of learned helplessness. They learn that you don't believe they can solve their problems, so they stop trying. They know you will fix it, so they wait for you to fix it. The second thing that happens is they begin to lose confidence in themselves. If the adult in the room doesn't believe that they are capable of solving the problem, then clearly, they can't solve the problem. We must give them room to fail, pick themselves up, learn from it, and then try again. Our role is to brush them off, hand them a tissue, and ask, "Would you like some help with that? Or are you good?" Acknowledge the pain and give them the opportunity to solve the problem, "That sounds hard. What is your plan?" It is so amazing to see the wheels turn the first time you say this to your child. If they are used to you solving the problem for them, it might take them a moment to understand what you are saying. What they eventually hear is, "I believe you can figure this out. Tell me how you are going to do it, because Im interested" They hear that you have faith in them.
One great question to ask a child in distress is, "Is this something you want help with, or do you just want to talk about it?" You might even give them options like talk, sit quietly, get a hug, or take a walk. This promotes positive coping techniques. Many times, they just need a sounding board and providing them with someone who will listen and ask open-ended questions helps them to solve the issue on their own. If they ask for help, then you can ask what kind of help they would like to have. It is important to help your child decipher where the problem is - is it time management? Content knowledge? Organization? When you can help them pinpoint the problem, thats when potential solutions can be discussed. If you don't, the solutions you offer might be addressing the wrong problem, which leads to mutual frustration.
The bottom line here is that you, their parent or caregiver, are the most important factor in the development of your children's executive function. Whatever portion of their skills might be inherited or genetic, these are skills that can be taught and may be "caught" from watching and learning from the adults around them. Paying attention to how you model your own executive function skills and talking about them with your children will go a long way to helping your child to fully develop their own. Maintaining a consistent and warm responsiveness with your family members will also make a big difference as well.
Endnotes
1 Banich, М. T. (2009). Executive function: The search for an integrated account. Current directions in psychological science: A Journal of the American Psychological Society, 18(2), 89-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01615.x.
2 Baggetta, P, & Alexander, P. A. (2016). Conceptualization and operationalization of executive function. Mind, Brain and Education, 10(1), 10-33. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12100.
Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and programs that improve children's executive functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science: A Journal of the American Psychological Society, 21(5), 335-341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412453722.
3 Jacob, R., & Parkinson, J. (2015). The potential for school-based interventions that target executive function to improve academic achievement: A review. Review of Educational Research, 85(4), 512-552. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654314561338.
4 Baggetta & Alexander. (2016).
Diamond, A. (2012).
Jacob & Parkinson. (2015).
5 Diamond, A. (2012).
6 Building the Brains "Air Traffic Control" System: How early experiences shape the development of executive function: Working paper no. 11. (2011). Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. www.developingchild.harvard.edu
7 Serpell, Z. N., & Esposito, А. С. (2016). Development of executive functions: Implications for educational policy and practice. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(2), 203-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732216654718
8 Merz, E., Landry, S. H., Montroy, J. J., & Williams, J. М. (2017). Bidirectional associations between parental responsiveness and executive function during early childhood. Social Development, 26(3), 591-609. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode. 12204.
9 Rocha, A., Alemida, L., & Perales, В. С. (2020). Comparison of gifted and non-gifted students executive functions and high capabilities. Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 8(4), 1397-1409.
10 Steiner, H. H., & Carr, М. (2003). Cognitive development in gifted children: Toward a more precise understanding of emerging differences in intelligence. Educational Psychology Review, 15(3), 215-246. http://doi.org/1040-726X/03/0900-0215/0.
11 Steiner & Carr. (2003).
12 Rocha, A., Alemida, L., & Perales, К. С. (2020). Comparison of gifted and non-gifted students" executive functions and high capabilities. Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 8(4), 1397-1409.
13 Fay-Stammbach, T., Hawes, D. J., & Meredith, P. (2014). Parenting influences on executive function in early childhood: A review. Child Development Perspectives, 8(4), 258-264. https://doi. org/10.1111/cdep.12095.
Thomas, L., N., Campbell, T. S., Tomfohr-Madsen, L., & Giesbrecht, С. Е (2017). Developmental origins of infant emotion regulation: Mediation by temperamental negativity and moderation by maternal sensitivity. Developmental Psychology, 53(4), 611-628. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000279.
14 Braren, P, К. E., Ribner, A, Brandes-Aitken, A., Brito, N., & Blair, C. (2021). Prenatal mother-father cortisol linkage predicts infant executive functions at 24 months. Developmental Psychobiology, 63(7). https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22151.
15 Diamond, A. (2012).
16 Diamond, A. (2012).
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