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We just published a brand new set of articles on the LD.org website about this topic and let me run through just a couple of the things that it covers, but absolutely be sure to visit the site [where you can] read more about this really interesting area in detail.
When we think about executive function, one of the things we talk about is the ability to stop and think before acting. Some people refer to it as impulse control. Kids with learning disabilities, many children with Attention Deficit Disorder, they do a lot of that kind of talking before they think or doing before they really understand. They get started on homework before they read the instructions. They plow through things without really looking at details. So impulse control, the ability to stop and think before acting is one of those things that falls under the umbrella of executive function.
Emotional control. The ability to manage how you feel and think about something as you’re doing it is another aspect, another piece of this executive function world. Lots of kids with LD will get frustrated and give up or won’t be able to tolerate being corrected. Once they’ve tried really hard and delivered a product sometimes they find it hard to sort of calm down and focus on what it is they need to do because the task itself, because it’s hard for them, be it reading or writing or spelling or any other academically related skill, is just so hard for them and they’ll often postpone and procrastinate before they get started. That’s another aspect of the executive function domain.
Another interesting aspect of this executive function domain is flexibility, and I mentioned before the ability to change directions and strategies, even falling into routines. Every time you study for a test, if you do it one way and the teacher’s asking you to do it in another way, that could sort of throw things way out of whack for kids who don’t have that flexibility built in and who have executive function difficulties.
[There’s] something that we call working memory, the ability to hold information in your mind and use it to complete a task – many students with LD have difficulties in this working memory area. The most obvious difficulty manifests itself as just trouble following directions. You know, the teacher gives three directions, and the child remembers the last one of them, but not the first or the second. [Another difficulty is] trouble listening and then taking notes and then going back and catching up to where the teacher is in terms of talking and explaining something in the front of the room. Even moving from one class to another and remembering that you need to bring these books from your locker in the morning and these books in the afternoon, those are the kinds of things that impact, that are impacted by executive function in the working memory area.
Self-monitoring. [It’s] very, very important and also something that’s difficult for lots and lots of kids with learning disabilities. They just plow ahead. They don’t seem to monitor how well they’re doing. They don’t look back and they can’t easily check their work. They don’t proofread well. They may lose sight of how long a project is taking, even though they’re doing it correctly. They may do more than is expected. They may skip a question without noticing it and not be able to monitor that that’s in fact happened. So self-monitoring is an important area within this executive function domain.
And sometimes just task initiation [can be a challenge] – getting started [or] knowing how to set something up. Even after instructions are given, you know: [the] paper has to be in a certain place, I’m doing it in pencil, not in pen, I need to make sure that I’ve allowed enough time to read something through before I get started… If there are multiple steps, whether you skip one step or you start on step two, or you start on step one but don’t have enough time to finish, very often just initiating, getting started and doing so with a purpose and a sense of organization is really hard for kids with learning disabilities.
So again, visit the LD.org website. There are a series of articles talking about this particular area and I think anyone who works with students with learning disabilities will see these kids in some of those, in some of that narrative.
The podcasts for this series and the Student Success Collaborative are generously funded by the Cisco Systems Foundation. The Student Success Collaborative consists of partners City Year, Silicon Valley Education Foundation, Teachers without Borders, One Global Economy, and the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
