What Is Executive Function?

Executive functions are a set of skills that include organization, attention, and planning. This includes impulse control, emotional control, and working memory. Learn more about executive functioning and how you can help your child improve these skills.

In this video, Stephanie Carlson, PhD, Director of Research, Institute of Child Development University of Minnesota, explains how executive functioning skills develop in kids. “It refers to a group of important mental skills that allows us to set goals and get things done,” says Dr. Carlson. The three main areas of executive function are working memory, flexible thinking, and inhibitory control, according to Dr. Carlson. Kids that struggle with executive function may also face challenges in life and in school. Watch as Dr. Carlson shares advice on ways to improve executive function in kids. Keep in mind, executive function has nothing to do with intelligence.

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[Gisellenid]

I'm an adult with ADHD, 35, and executive function disorder is getting ridiculously worse.

[tonyc]

I work in finance....in management. My sales and social skill are very good. My executive function is horrible. High school for me was very difficult. At age 47 now I still struggle with it. I just took a 30 hour course and it was very very difficult.

[shimonfrankel]

Yea, there were no "classroom accommodations" in the 1980s. There were however "hallway accommodations" as I spent pretty much every day of my childhood in the School corridor because I was usually kicked out of class in the first 10 minutes. my parents were told by School administration that what I needed was a few hard smacks on the rear end and I would be all better. My parents lovingly followed expert instructions, and the only thing that came out of that was a bunch of extra entries on my AA 4th step.

[InDifferentPurpose]

Executive function is the mental ability to put information to use. I suffer from severe executive disability and can't organize worth a damn.

[Liimpy]

I havr an adult friend (40) who cannot function as an adult, he cannot grasp the simple things like paying bills, living on his own, being responsible for anything, its quite frustrating, if i didn't provide him a job & housing he would live homeless and would never be able to hold a job or function as an adult on his own, im at a loss and im considering removing this person from my life to save my own sanity? EFD + narcissism is difficult to deal with, he doesn't see any fault in how he lives and how it affects people around him, most of the people in his life including family have long wrote him off..

[joshuadaltilia]

I have executive functioning issues as I have ASD

[kevabevans-burrows]

How can a parent help to improve a child who struggles with executive function?

[changeamlas]

my parents thought that i just could have done school better but this sounds like the reason why. i had problem doing language arts the most which needs a lot of executive function, but math i could do better. I might have got it from my dads family because he and his dad said they struggled with the same classes as me. sometimes if im around certain people like my sister who maybe i dont talk to as much. i mess up sudden tasks when im thinking about another thing. when i get that wrong, they seem to hate me so much and i feel so ashamed how i could feel stuck or dumb at most things

[amandafarr]

Is this different from Executive Dysfunction?

[Skylightatdusk]

Can an adult who was initially very highly organized develop problems with executive function? Can emotional / psychological trauma contribute to this new development?

[charlesblair]

thanks for the video. tip for engagement is if you read the sentence then repeated it, then read the next sentence rather than me watching you just read something.

[reginaldparker]

Reading comprehension and focus can be the same I believe a child can learn whatever they put their minds to.