How to Develop Executive Functioning Skills
Maturity
plays an important role in EF development. Dr. Lorie Humphrey, a clinical EF
neuropsychologist and research associate at UCLA, reports that improvement
occurs naturally, with normal development during adolescence and early
adulthood. Consider the ability of a normal 10-year-old versus a normal
25-year-old to sit through an hour-long lecture or to write a Master’s thesis.
The 25-year-old has the capacity to do these high-level, attention-requiring
tasks because of his more fully-developed frontal lobes.
This development starts in earnest during puberty and lasts into the late 20’s.
Additionally, Dr. J. Giedd, a neuroscientist with the National Institute of
Mental Health, reports that the cerebellum keeps developing well into
adolescence. This fact means that adolescents can improve their skills as they
mature.
But for some students, maturity alone may not be enough to provide them with
the level of EF needed to plan, organize, and manage their studies. For
them, EF cam best be stimulated through specific training in
organizational, problem-solving, and reasoning skills and strategies.
Dr. Humphrey says that for many students with ADHD, development alone will not
close the gap. Individuals with ADHD show improvement with maturity,
but their EF remains less-developed than that of their peers. So even
though ADHD patients may perform much better relative to their younger
selves, their abilities lag when compared to those of others the
same age. EF can be increased, through the combined treatment of
medication (for ADHD students) and behavioral strategies (e.g., teaching
organizational skills). The greatest improvement for the person with ADHD comes
with combined maturation, medication, and training.
How Does
Executive Function Work? What Happens When it Doesn’t?