Ahh…’Tis the season of peace, joy and togetherness…and executive functioning challenges. During this winter season, the days are shorter, darker and colder. In the northern hemisphere, our brains naturally want to go into hibernation. Toss in the planning demands of the holiday season and, well, climbing into bed with your covers over your head can […] The post 5 Helpful Ways to De-Stress During the Holidays appeared first on Executive Functioning Success ..read more

Continuing with our series delving into the 12 Executive Function Skills of the Brain, I want to highlight one very challenging bugaboo for many, especially those with ADHD: the EF skill of  “response inhibition” or “impulse control.” Russell Barkley uses the term “self-regulation.” Those are all fancy terms for self-control. Wondering if you struggle with […] The post 12 Executive Functions of the Brain Spotlight #11: Response Inhibition appeared first on Executive Functioning Success ..read more

We have to organize many things in life: our thoughts, our time, our stuff.  Sorting through thoughts and feelings relates to the executive function of Metacognition. Organizing your time falls under the topic of Time Management. For this installment of the 12 Executive Functions of the Brain Series, I want to focus on the brain’s […] The post 12 Executive Functions of the Brain Spotlight #10: Organization appeared first on Executive Functioning Success ..read more

Have you ever found yourself entering a room, and then pausing to ask yourself, “Why did I come in here?” This common situation is an example of the limitations of working memory, an executive function of the brain. I think of working memory as a little work table in your head. It is where you […] The post 12 Executive Functions of the Brain Spotlight #9: Working Memory appeared first on Executive Functioning Success ..read more

The post 12 Executive Functions of the Brain Spotlight: #8: Time Management appeared first on Executive Functioning Success ..read more

Sustained attention, or the ability to stay focused on a task, is an executive function that people seem to, well… focus on! Adult clients tell me that they need to improve their focus at work. Teachers complain about students who don’t focus in class. Everyone is looking for the magic wand to fix this frustrating problem. Alas, there is no magic wand. Lack of sustained attention is frustrating because the ability to focus is very complex. It is tied to so many aspects of the brain and environment. For those with ADHD, a chemically under-activated brain is one source of the lack of focus. Tha ..read more

When I started my business back in around 2010, it amazed me that there were no singular and agreed-upon definitions for the individual executive functions of the brain. While research and understanding of executive functions have vastly expanded since those days, in some ways this remains true today. The framework for thinking about executive function skills often depends upon which authority you reference. In our Seeing My Time® curriculum, I chose to follow the model put forward by psychologists Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, which shows the complexity of the skills without being overwhelmin ..read more

Here is my favorite quote at the moment: “Expectations are predetermined disappointments.” Kind of brutal but so true – especially in my experience with folks struggling with executive functioning. Unrealistic expectations are at the root of SO much pain. Parents and teachers often expect children and adolescents to step up and independently complete certain tasks before they are ready. The result is more and more children who struggle with anxiety. I get it. As a parent, before I understood the connection between the brain and behavior, I too was guilty of unrealistic exceptions. It took me y ..read more

The sixth in our series highlighting specific executive functioning skills will focus on one not typically highlighted: flexibility. I’m not talking about yoga flexibility; I am referring to mental flexibility. This is the skill that helps us adapt to changing circumstances in our environment. We use mental flexibility to: Revise plans due to unforeseen events or obstacles. Respond and correct mistakes. Incorporate new information into our decision-making process. A flexible brain can switch gears as needed throughout the day. It smooths the transitions from one expectation to another, from ..read more

Over the last couple of months of this 12-part Executive Function Spotlight Series, I’ve focused on planning and prioritization, key executive functions underlying the capacity for future thinking, which are required for setting and reaching goals and deadlines. This month we zero in on Task Initiation, which is the Executive Function skill that is critical for starting tasks. This skill especially comes into play when we don’t want to do something, or we don’t fully understand how to begin the task. So we put off starting the project…for a long time. But the knowledge that you need to do it g ..read more