Executive Function Skills Cheat Sheet (Updated)

Executive functions are skills everyone uses to organize and act on Information. The eight key Executive functions are Impulse control, Emotional Control, Flexible Thinking, Working Memory, Self-Monitoring, Planning and Prioritizing, Task Initiation, and Organization. If your child has executive functioning issues, he may struggle with some or all of the above skills.

Executive Function Skills Cheat Sheet

11 thoughts on “Executive Function Skills Cheat Sheet (Updated)”

  1. I’m looking at this from a trauma lens, and invite comments and corrections. I was unable to get the formatting to copy, so just working on the How it Looks section:

    Impulse Control (How it looks): Children with weak impulse control may be more likely to engage in unexpected behavior.

    Emotional Control: When something goes wrong, a child may become dysregulated and struggle to react appropriately to academic and social challenges.

    Flexible Thinking: Frustration may result when a child is asked to change their approach or a conflict occurs.

    Working Memory: Children with weak working memory may need more than help than reminders or notes, in order to successfully follow directions.

    Self-Monitoring: For a child who does not yet have this skill, care must be taken to give ongoing feedback in order to avoid a negative outcome.

    Planning and Prioritizing: Children who struggle with planning may need support to determine which parts of a project are most important.

    Task Initiation: A child may have no idea where to begin and look as if he is avoiding a task.

    Organization: Children who struggle with organization and focus may easily lose their train of though, as well as supplies and papers.

    Modified from http://www.NCLEQuiz.com

  2. Could you please correct the following errors & republish?
    1) Information in the 1st sentence should not be capitalized
    2) Week should be weak under Impulse Control – How it looks section
    3) Under Planning and Prioritizing – What it means section, I would suggest revising “help your child on a goal” to “help your child set a goal” for clarity, and also change “and e plan to meet it” to “and make a plan to meet it”
    4) Taka should be take under Task Initiation – What it means section
    Thank you!

      1. Would love to see these updates/changes made, too. This is a great, comprehensive list and I’d like to offer it as a resource to parents once corrections are made.

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