Impairment of executive functions is common after acquired brain injury and has a profound effect on many aspects of everyday life. This page explains what. What is Executive Function? In addition, some executive functions incorporate areas of the brain outside the frontal lobes – the parietal lobes or basal ganglia, for example. Like many cognitive domains, executive functions are part of a distributed network of brain structures and regions.
A reader of my last post agreed with the points made about failure, but noted, “when the habit has been 'cemented,' things are not so simple.” Another reader wrote, “Please tell more about how self-regulatory skills can be learned.” Here are some research-based strategies to strengthen executive function.In a, I focused on a study published by Laura Rabin, Joshua Fogel and Katherine Nutter-Upham (Brooklyn College of the City University of New York) relating executive function to procrastination. Their focus is well placed – procrastination as self-regulation failure.
They write,“Procrastination is increasingly recognized as involving a failure in self-regulation such that procrastinators, relative to non-procrastinators, may have a reduced ability to resist social temptations, pleasurable activities, and immediate rewards. These individuals also fail to make efficient use of internal and external cues to determine when to initiate, maintain, and terminate goal-directed actions” (p. 345).The characteristics the authors summarize associated with procrastination are numerous:. Reduced agency. Disorganization. Poor impulse and emotional control. Poor planning and goal setting.
Reduced use of meta-cognitive skills. Distractibility. Poor task persistence. Time and task deficienciesA recent reply to my blog post reflects similar problems. A reader noted,“As someone who scored very low on the, I am disheartened. I believe I can learn these self-regulatory skills, but I don't know where to start. Meanwhile, my endeavors suffer.
Although I have improved over time, I can't seem to shake the tendency to procrastinate, even on projects that interest me. Performance, and a lack of ability to focus, plague me. I have found that some projects present less of a challenge than others, and I am trying to work my way into a professional position that would involve those kinds of projects. Yet, in general, I procrastinate everything. I think most people who struggle with executive dysfunction alrealready know that establishing new habits is hard. Procrastinators who feel good during procrastination will already know that they pay for it later, however that line is just condescending to those who don't, but who simply can't stop themselves even though they'd like to all the while. Unfortunately for thos edealing with this problem if you've read one blog then you've read them all (and spoken to basically everyone in the world, too).
What an encouragement to be understood, and know the why. I have a gift for business.
I love a challenge. However, am overwhelmed with how long it takes to create a grocery list.yikes! Or, to clean up the pile of papers on my kitchen island. Now, I see my daughter, struggles with the same personality. Thank you for further insights. I appreciate it.
Have you ever heard of Arrowsmith School (org)? The founder had 19 different learning disabilities, and with focus and the right tools, overcame.
You might some more research through them! Thank you again:). I often forget that I am stuck in what has felt like an endless loop.I think I will make my first new habit about finding ways to remember what is happening. It is like peering through the mist to hand something off to a future self. As a youth and young adult, I was a hyper achiever - working diligently.After years of pain and sleeplessness, I have found it extremely difficult in middle age to recover my former way of life.
I am glad I happened on this page and I will definitely look for the book. Thank you - it is encouraging to see this is a problem others face which can be addressed!.
An exasperated juvenile court judge from Texas contacted me this past week. She is becoming worn down by the parade of adolescents coming before her bench who 'just don't seem to get it. They're bright, communicative, but something doesn't click.' Most of the young people appearing in her courtroom have had psychological exams, and almost all have scored well within the normal range on tests. But it is when these young people are asked to connect the dots, to put everything together, to use the information embedded in the deep recesses of their brains, that everything seems to fall apart.This judge's confusion and exasperation are grounded in her mistaking IQ scores-a marker of global intellectual functioning-as an indicator of how well an individual can put information to use. To get at this second aspect of, we need to look at executive functioning.Executive functioning, put most simply, is the ability to plan and complete a task. It is a higher cognitive process that involves communication and organization across multiple brain sites and pathways; it is the interconnecting virtual pathway that brings all aspects of brain functioning together.
Executive functioning is involved in planning complex cognitive behaviors and expressing one's. It allows individuals to differentiate among conflicting thoughts and filter out unimportant information; it also helps the individual anticipate future consequences of current activities and work toward a defined goal. And, most important from the judge's perspective, executive functioning inhibits impulses that could lead to socially unacceptable outcomes.Because executive functioning involves all aspects of brain function, this is the aspect of neurocognitive functioning that is most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of prenatal exposure to tobacco, and illicit drugs. Alcohol is the only substance known to affect global cognitive functioning as measured by IQ; however, a woman's use of tobacco, alcohol, or just about any other drug-including -has a detrimental effect on the child's long-term executive functioning. In fact, executive functioning seems to be the final common pathway of prenatal substance exposure.Prenatally exposed children, as they grow and mature into adulthood, never acquire the ability to think ahead. This results in a variety of problems including the inability to self-direct behavior, to maintain and integrate multiple bits of information, to manage, stay on task, problem solve in a cognitively fluent manner, and place information into in order to complete a later task.
A child with deficits in executive functioning is not being disobedient by running out into the street. She simply has not made the connection between the words, 'Do not run out into the street,' and the literal motor action. Thus, she requires structure ('This is the boundary of our yard'), along with a physical barrier or marker as a cue, to ensure her safety.Executive functioning disorders can make it particularly difficult for children to perform operations that require attention, and mental control. It is therefore not surprising that so many prenatally exposed children get diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They also have significant difficulties in school. Frequently, children who have histories of prenatal alcohol or drug exposure struggle to complete abstract processes, such as math problems, in their head. As another example, a child may know all his spelling words one day, yet be unable to spell a single word the next day.
Although children often are accused of having 'selective memory,' in reality, the problem is not related to selection but to storage and retrieval. Because of the executive functioning disorder, the child is having difficulty recording information, storing it for later use, and then recalling that information. To remember her spelling words, the child will need special, often multi-sensory, cues.Executive functioning deficits also may play an important role in social and learning difficulties.
For instance, often say that prenatally exposed children have a hard time inhibiting their impulses and shifting between different activities. Routine transitions become difficult because the children have trouble moving from one activity to the next. This dynamic is especially evident in school, where changing from a reading lesson to a music lesson may set off tantrums and outbursts, particularly in the context of learning new information.What one quickly discovers when working with prenatally exposed children is that classic strategies to modify the child's behavior do not work; the children are unable to relate consequences to the misbehavior that caused them.
In addition, children with prenatal exposure have difficulties inhibiting previously learned responses; rather than adapting a new way of doing something, the children often repeat the same behaviors because they cannot use new skills to solve problems but simply revert back to prior knowledge. This often-inappropriate repetition can lead to a significant amount of frustration for parents and teachers-and judges-particularly when they do not understand the root cause of the child's behaviors.There are treatment approaches available that successfully address executive functioning deficits. Thus, it is imperative that the assessment of any child with a history of prenatal exposure to alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs includes testing of the child's executive functioning capabilities. Failure to do so will result in an incomplete treatment plan and, in many cases, the use of inappropriate. There are multiple causes of difficulties with executive functioning, especially when you consider that successful executive functioning requires so many areas of the brain along with countless pathways of interconnections.all vulnerable to a host of injuries during the prenatal and postnatal periods.
Oxygen deprivation at birth, physical damage such as from blunt force trauma, early emotional trauma, a concussion - these factors and many more can affect some aspect of brain functioning that is required for being able to put things together and to problem solve efficiently. And sometimes, in fact probably most of the time, there is just no known cause. In most cases I advise not to worry about what caused the problem, but how do we address it through therapy and/or medication. We have a beautiful adopted granddaughter that tests have concluded she has low cog.
She is now 14, but since about age, 3, she has had fits of anger. For ten years, we have been unable to find any form of treatment or therapy that has made a difference.
After numerous violent altercations through the years, the whole household is in chaos. The latest counselor, last night told us that it will never get better and that there is very little help available for a child with this particular dysfunction.
Mental help $$ are not available for Medicaid patients particularly. Short of literally throwing a beloved child out in the streets, who do you turn to when you need help. We cannot imagine that in our society who has so much medical knowledge and technology, cannot help with our granddaughter and her family that is crumbling before our very eyes. We are in the state of GA. Where this child, along with her brother, were adopted after two years of foster care. They are loved beyond imagination. Where to turn to?.
This is such a needed answer for us to read about as we have a daughter that was born to a heroin/methadone addicted birthmom. I have searched and sought for help for her all her life (she just turned 18) but with little success. They all only addressed and medicated her ADHD. She just graduated high school by the skin of her teeth literally, then decided she had had enough of us and her life and took off to a 22 yr. Old cousin's where there is drug use and a 'do whatever you want atmosphere.' We had been in touch daily in order for her to keep her phone, but she has become nasty which makes me think she is using now. She has tossed around suicide threats several times, but then convinced us, a social worker, and police that she wasn't serious.
I really don't want to Baker Act her (We're in Florida) because I don't think she will get the proper help that she needs and this will just get worse. Any thoughts, ideas, direction for therapy if she comes home, or ways to get her out of the present situation would be greatly appreciated.
We are in Orlando, she is in Tallahassee. I suspect I have a learning disability and have wanted to get tested for the longest time but don't have the money to get professionally tested. I'm pretty sure I was exposed prenatally to alcohol and abuse of prescription drugs. I'm in my mid 30's and have the following difficulties:-planning ahead-switching gears-multitasking-issues with speed and efficiencyIn school, I was OK in English, and actually, a great speller. Math was and is impossible. I had a hard time focusing on things without my mind wandering, such as reading something I wasn't interested in. I am good at working on one task in a very thorough, methodical manner and have an exceptional attention span when I'm doing things I enjoy.Anyway, the weaknesses have caused an incredible amount of difficulty with functioning in the workplace and I need help.
Can I actually improve mu EF skills? Can you recommend any resources in VA?.