November 2023 | Amanda Flynn

How can parents enhance their children’s executive functioning skills at home?

This blog will focus on:

• Defining and differentiating among various executive functioning skills.

• The significance of executive functioning skill development to enhance occupational participation.

• A variety of ways to incorporate executive functioning skills at home.

Executive function is a set of mental skills that support our active engagement in daily life. It is important to mention that developing executive functioning skills is not synchronous. Every one of these skills develops at different rates, with windows of growth and opportunity for intervention. Even adults may continue to face difficulties related to their executive functioning abilities since these skills continue to develop into adulthood. Challenges with executive functioning can impact occupational and social engagement. Therefore, it is important to initiate the development of these skills as soon as possible.

There are many executive functioning skills. The main ones this blog will focus on are:

Planning:

The ability to set objectives, outline steps, and consider potential obstacles and solutions to achieve a goal.

Metacognition:

The ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate one’s thinking and adapt for future success.

Time management:

The ability to effectively organize and prioritize daily activities, tasks, and routines to maximize productivity.

Organization:

The ability to plan, arrange, and manage one's environment, tasks, and daily routines in a way that promotes independence, efficiency, and successful engagement in meaningful activities.

Emotional control:

The ability to manage and regulate one's own emotions effectively.

Task initiation:

The ability to start/independently initiate a specific task or activity. This skill is important in various aspects of life, including work, education, and daily routines.

Sustained attention:

The ability to maintain a consistent and prolonged level of concentration on a specific task, activity, or stimulus over an extended period.

Working memory:

A fundamental cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage, manipulation, and processing of information necessary for various tasks such as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning.

Response inhibition:

The ability to suppress or restrain one's immediate or automatic responses, impulses, or behaviors in favor of a more appropriate or goal-directed action.

For more information on executive functioning skills, visit:

https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/organisation/executive-functioning/

Toys, games, checklists/schedules, and crafts are fun and engaging ways to incorporate executive functioning skill development into your home and daily routine. Here are some examples of activities, and what skills they target:

Brain Games

Brain games are a great way to incorporate executive functioning skills into playtime at home. Puzzle games and brain teasers are excellent tools for stimulating cognitive development. Whether they are independently played or group-based, these types of games will target planning, organization, problem-solving, emotional control, sustained attention, task initiation, and working memory.

Examples: Memory matching cards, jigsaw puzzles, SmartGames puzzles, spot the difference, and brainteasers

For additional brain game ideas, visit: https://www.thepathway2success.com/10-brain-games-to-boost-executive-functioning-skills/

Board Games

Collaborative board games are another way to integrate execution-functioning skill development into playtime. Board games provide an interactive and engaging way for children to develop strategic thinking and foundational learning skills. Some of the skills associated with playing board games include planning, emotional control, sustained attention, working memory, and response inhibition. Collaborative board games are also a great way to work on social interaction skills including turn-taking, communication, self-control, and self-awareness.

Examples: Candy Land, Monopoly, Battleship, Jenga, Dog Crimes, Catan Junior, Connect 4, and chess

Daily Routine Chart/Checklist

Utilizing daily routine charts and checklists is a fantastic way to promote many executive functioning skills such as planning, metacognition, time management, organization, and task initiation. Creating a routine chart/checklist for your child can promote independence, reduce stress regarding transitions, and help establish healthy, constructive habits such as hygiene, chores, homework completion, etc. Adding stickers or check marks after the completion of an activity can be encouraging for kids to see what they have accomplished throughout the day. You can find many templates online, or you can create personalized charts/checklists that suit your family's needs!

Crafts

Crafts and DIY projects are a great way to enhance executive functioning skills. These activities can easily be tailored toward your child's interests, and are motivating as they have a finished product. Crafting is a step-by-step process that is engaging, sustains attention and persistence, and requires planning, organization, and time management. To add more structure to crafting, you can create or print out an example of the finished product, and have your child independently gather all of the materials and sequence the craft, while referring to the visual model.

Executive functioning capacities are the building blocks for a variety of important life skills, and these are just a few ways to incorporate skill-building into your home. Finding games and activities that integrate your child's interests is a great way to amplify participation. Have fun learning and growing!

Any questions? Reach out to our amazing team of clinicians at Buttonloop Children’s Therapies.