Family Forum: A Primer on Executive Function

Executive Function: A Primer

If you have a foster or adopted child, you may have heard about executive function in some of your trainings. If you have a child with autism or a learning disorder, you may have heard about it from the child’s teachers. Or…like many of us, you may know nothing about Executive Function other than that it sounds complicated. (It’s got the word “Executive” in it, after all!) The Center on the Developing Child defines executive function as a set of skills that “underlie the capacity to plan ahead and meet goals, display self-control, follow multiple-step directions even when interrupted, and stay focused despite distractions, among others.” 

The bad news? No one is born with these skills. The good news? Nearly everyone can learn them over time! We can learn to manage our impulses, maintain our focus, organize our thoughts, and plan our days. It’s not always easy – but certainly easier to learn these skills as a child than to try to pick them up as an adult. Many children with trauma histories, though, seem to struggle with executive function. The reasons for this are many — and for parents who have solid executive function skills, their children’s lack of the skills can be a significant source of frustration.

Join us for this informative Family Forum, where we’ll cover the basics of Executive Function, how some of these skills are gained, why our children may not have them at the ready, and how we can better parent children from tough places who may need additional executive function support. (And who knows? You may just learn a thing or two that you can put into practice to enhance your own skills!)