What is executive functioning?
Before jumping to conclusions and “solutions”, I have done some research about what this problem really is and where it comes from.
Executive function has different definitions from different sources. However, Dr. Leslie E packer summarise it as “Executive functions (EF) are central processes that are most intimately involved in giving organization and order to our actions and behaviour. Executive Dysfunction is an often-overlooked source of the difficulties students have initiating, completing, and turning in their homework and class work”.
In other words, when the executive functions are working, we can organise our actions and behaviour. When it is not developed, it means that people with this dysfunction cannot organise or complete tasks without having difficulties.
In a little YouTube video, Dr. Sheldon H. Horowitz explains how executive function works when these skills are actually developed:
It starts with activating your thinking; what is your goals? After that, you orchestrate your ideas; what is important and what do I need? You need to monitor yourself so that you know how well you are doing things. You need to evaluate your outcome to that point and last: you need to adapt if you find out that you need another approach. (Horowitz, 2012)
Centre of the Developing Child of the Harvard University has done a big research about executive functioning. They describe it as:
An air traffic control system at a busy airport safely manages the arrivals and departures of many aircraft on multiple runways, the brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritize tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses. (The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2015)
Besides, according to their research, it seems that the cause of this problem starts with the development of the brain. It depends on three type of brain function: working memory, mental flexibility and self-control. That means, children are not born with these skills; they have to develop them during years of practise and experience. To do that, you have to expose children in very early stage of their lives to tasks where they have to think what do to, what to filter and what to pay attention to; this is critical to develop the skills. If not, that means it will be very hard when they are grown up and want to do an education or have a job.
School dropouts
According to CBS, statistics Netherlands, the average dropout rate across the 28 EU member states was just under 13%, in 2012. That was lower compared to 2003 where it was 16%. The United Kingdom comes in at 23rd with a percentage of almost 15%. The Netherlands did a better job. Coming in at 10th they only have a school dropout of almost 9%. I my opinion these numbers are still very high and could be decreased even more. Children with EF disability have a higher chance on dropping out of school because they can’t coop with the study.
(CBS – Statistics Netherlands, 2014)
Can it be trained?
The question that comes with that is: how does it influences your study if these skills are not/less developed? You are missing vital skills such as planning for the future and strategic thinking, you do not have the ability to inhibit or delay responding, you cannot initialise behaviour and the flexibility to shift between activities is very hard.
Because there is no uniform agreement on what the executive functions are, there has been no agreement on how to assess them. If we talk about particular subfunctions, however, it is possible to answer the question.
Executive functions are generally assessed via neuropsychological tests and assessments. For any one function or subfunction, there may be a variety of tasks or tests that tap into components. (Leslie E. Packer, 2015)
It can be concluded that: this is a problem, which starts at a very young age. If children miss, the opportunity to develop these skills it will eventually influence them in a negative way.
In order to help people with this learning problem, you have to start early to train it. Dr. Leslie E. Packer is convinced that there are several approaches to help children in a later stadium. She says that there are two ways to view this problem:
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One is to say that the child needs our support and that by supporting the child by providing the back-up copies, etc.
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The other one in which we work with the child as their consultant or supporter to help them organize themselves.(Leslie E. Packer, 2015)
To me, what dr. Packer is saying, is that you can train it. As long as you motivate the people who you are working with. The motivation part is something that took my interest. Though it seems so obvious, you have to have something that keeps motivating someone in order to keep training. If the motivation weakens, the person will stop with practising and goes back to the vulnerable and un-organised state.
Brain function
It is clear that this problem needs attention at a young age. Nevertheless, how do we know what age that is? In order to know we need to find out when the brain starts developing certain skills and how that works. In addition, it is helpful to find out what is causing this disability.
Scientists still are not sure why some children have executive functioning difficulties. Research has identified some possible links:
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Genes and heredity: Kids differ in how they use executive skills. However, chances are high that your child uses them in the same way you do. Studies show that the differences among kids are almost completely influenced by genes.
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Brain differences: For the most part, executive functioning is controlled by a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. Research has shown that people who have disorders, diseases or injuries to the prefrontal cortex often develop executive functioning issues.[2] Experts are using that research to study whether the prefrontal cortex in kids with executive functioning issues works differently than in other kids.
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Other disabilities and disorders: Kids with ADHD and dyslexia often struggle with executive functioning. So do children with neurological conditions, mood disorders, autism and acquired brain injury.(Morin, 2014)
It is interesting to read that children who have other disabilities are more likely to have problems with the executive functioning. It looks like some kind of connection though it is not scientifically proven it is causing it. I believe it could have a connection, especially with children who have ADHD or autism. They already have a hard time concentrating on things, which does not help developing the executive functions.
According to Morin, children with dyslexia also often struggles with this disability. Dyslexia is not a concentration problem. However, it is a neurological problem, which may link with executive functioning. Scientists are still debating whether it is a dysfunction in the frontal lobe or not.
Child development
In order to find out at what age EF can be trained, we need to look at the development of the child’s brain. Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget studied the development of the children’s brain and divided this in four cognitive stages: Infants, 2-7 year olds, 7-12 year olds and from the age of 12. Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child’s development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of brain development and cognitive psychology compared to an adult’s point of view.
In infancy, motion and sensory information is the whole of the child’s thinking capacity. Babies do not engage in rational thought, neither do they have any conception of time. Infants cannot see things from another person’s point of view and so are naturally egocentric. Toddlers, from ages 2 to 7, perceive the world through magical thinking and animism (attributing human emotions and characteristics to inanimate objects). They are acquiring motor skills during this stage, and a certain amount of “decentering” begins to occur. At this stage, the child is still unable to think logically. At age 7 to age 12, children begin to understand logical or rational thought, but only concretely — in relationship to things they can see or touch. They are also noticeably better at seeing another’s point of view and considering others’ feelings. From the age of 12 on, the person beings to develop abstract reasoning skills and can think logically and rationally, without having to depend on visual or tactile aids. Complex abstract thought is now possible, and cognitive development is complete. (LearningRX, 2003)
The book Cognitive Development, an information processing approach, tells about the research of J.H. Flavell. J.H. Flavell (1966) did a research about children’s memory development. He tested several ages including 7-year-olds. The interesting thing about this was that the children aged five and seven rehearsed less than 10-year-olds. Flavell thinks that it is not because they are incapable of doing so, but because they simply do not know how to use it.
After these tests. Flavell started to train 6-7 year olds in order to see if it can be taught. He repeated the test several times and said to the children to rehearse the words he kept in front of them. Results showed a big difference between children who did and did not rehears the words. The children who did rehears had more success than the children who did not. After the tenth time, Flavell did not ask the children to rehearse. Interestingly enough, the children stopped rehearsing by themselves. This result tells us that children of that age don’t spontaneously use rehearsing. Clearly they could do it, but they are not used to it. (McShane, 1991)
This proves that children can learn rhythm and do things multiple times. That is an important thing to keep in mind when thinking of concept for that age.
Use of iPads
EMarketer is an independent market research company that provides insights and trends related to digital marketing, media and commerce. (eMarketer, 2015)
According to eMarketer, half of the UK using a tablet in 2015:
According to new forecasts from eMarketer, the UK tablet market will reach a significant milestone in usage this year when, for the first time ever, the majority of the country’s consumers—50.3% of the population—will use a tablet at least once per month. This figure is expected to rise to almost 60%, or 40.2 million tablet users, by 2019. (eMarketer, 2015)
With this information, I can look at the possibilities to think of an app for IOS/Android. It also gives the opportunity to get the parents involved. Involving parents with such training, I think, helps the child to feel supported and motivated.