Overview

Executive function is how your child’s brain helps them focus, remember important things, manage impulses, and complete tasks to reach their goals. It includes skills like:

• planning
• prioritizing
• time management
• organization
• observation

Your child starts building these skills as a baby and they keep developing until your child becomes a young adult.

Executive function is often compared to the air traffic control system at a busy airport. This system manages all the planes that take off and land every day. Like the air traffic control system, your child’s brain takes in lots of information. One of the things their brain must do is to remember and prioritize the information, then act on the information their brain has prioritized as most important.

Areas of executive function

There are 3 main areas of executive function:

• Inhibition: Helps your child think before they act, focus on tasks, ignore distractions, and manage their emotions and reactions. For example, waiting their turn in a game, listening without interrupting when someone is talking, or resisting the urge to grab a toy from another child.
• Working memory: Helps your child keep information such as words, numbers, or pictures in their mind while working with that information. For example, remembering and following two-step instructions like, “Put on your shoes and grab your backpack.”
• Cognitive flexibility: Allows your child to switch between tasks and adjust to changes. It also helps them see things from another person’s point of view. For example, shifting from working on reading homework to math homework, having to stay inside to play because of the weather, or understanding why their friend is upset after they fall down.

Executive function includes many skills your child will need to be successful in life. They aren't born with these skills, but they have the potential to learn them as they grow.

Executive function development

Executive function skills start developing after birth. Back-and-forth interactions with adults, also known as “serve and return,” are important for your child’s growing brain. These face-to-face interactions include talking to your baby and imitating their sounds, facial expressions, and actions. Executive function skills grow quickly in toddlers and preschoolers. Your child will learn to follow simple directions, take turns, and wait. When your child reaches school age, their executive function skills get stronger. They can focus longer, make decisions, plan, and problem solve. They develop social skills, like:

• understanding others’ emotions
• taking turns in conversation
• teamwork
• managing the ups and downs of friendships

In junior high and high school, your child’s executive function skills help them plan and organize activities, complete and hand in their schoolwork on time, and ask questions and get help when needed. They reflect on the past to make decisions for the future. These skills help them focus on multiple things, prioritize tasks, and check their progress. Executive functioning skills continue to develop through young adulthood until 25 years of age.

Build executive function skills

Every child is different. Your child may not develop executive function skills at the same speed as other children. It’s normal for children to struggle and need adult help as their skills develop.

There are ways you can help your child build their executive function skills.

Infant

• Play peek-a-boo or patty cake to help your baby learn to focus, remember, and respond to others.
• Introduce new tastes, sights, sounds, smells, and textures to build your baby’s curiosity and cognitive flexibility.

Toddler and preschooler

• Play active games and songs like, “Red Light, Green Light” and “The Hokey Pokey” to help with attention and to practice waiting to respond.
• Try puzzles, sorting, matching, and simple board games to build memory skills and practice problem solving.
• Encourage pretend play, storytelling, and talking about emotions to help your child learn to manage their feelings.

Child

• Create routines for morning, after school, and bedtime to help your child learn how to organize their time and their belongings.
• Encourage healthy habits, such as being active and engaging in screen-free activities. This helps your child practice self-regulation and switching between activities.
• Break big tasks into smaller steps. This will help when your child is struggling to start or finish tasks.
• Have positive conversations about choices and behaviour to help your child pause before they act and think about consequences.

Youth and teen

• Show your child how to use organization tools, like planners or agendas, for assignments and activities.
• Help them think about and plan for challenging situations, like choosing classes or preparing for exams.
• Model and talk about ways to handle social situations and big emotions.
• Encourage your child to use positive self-talk, to believe in their ability to learn and grow (growth mindset), and to have self-compassion. This builds cognitive flexibility (ability to switch tasks and adjust to change), reduces stress, and helps them keep going when things don't go as planned.