Tips for Parents Helping Students with Executive Function Weaknesses

Students with executive function weaknesses have a less-than-efficient approach to making use of unstructured time. Parents observe this and feel saddled with the burden of helping their teenager complete each night’s schoolwork.

To help parents, I want to know which aspect of executive function is hardest. I ask them to rate on a five-point scale (5 = easily done and 1 = real nightmare) the following behaviors:

How difficult is it for your student to:

• Start a project, assignment, or homework?
• Transition from one assignment to another?
• Focus or attend to a particular assignment for at least 30 minutes?
• Self-regulate during the evening without getting angry, being highly inattentive, or complaining to a worrying degree?
• Complete and turn in all homework assignments?

Using these questions with a rating system helps parents obtain a better understanding of the student’s executive function profile.

What can be done? Assuming that the student has no other neurocognitive issues (e.g., with reading comprehension, writing fluency, or poor rote memory), I’ve found it’s extremely helpful to break each night into 30-minute segments. Like the skier staring down at a double diamond hill and turning back instead of taking the hill in shorter segments, many teenagers are overwhelmed by their nightly homework and don’t appreciate what can be done in 30 minutes.

Parents or a tutor or teacher can help the student by breaking down each night starting from the point the student walks in the door. For example:

Tuesday

• 4:15 snack, play basketball outside (breaks and exercise are important!)
• 4:45 algebra homework
• 5:15 start English, chapter reading
• 5:45 break for dinner
• 6:15 downtime
• 6:45 English, chapter reading
• 7:15 start outline for writing assignment
• 7:45 French homework
• 8:15 practice French vocabulary with mom (or alone)

Even when students must start homework at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. because of other commitments, they still need to make use of 30-minute segments when they come home or during study time at school. Students who read slowly should time themselves to see how long it takes them to read 5–10 pages and plan accordingly. Most students think they read and comprehend material much faster than they really do. Again, an outside tutor or teacher can help with this system. Small rewards or praise delivered in a timely way can encourage a student to feel pleased with meaningful progress.

I find that many students are truly surprised when they discover how much time they actually have to get homework done before bed. Teenagers can easily fritter all that time away unless they get support. The goal is to help them realize that they have control over each half hour and that a great deal can be accomplished by a focused effort. Teens need to know that time can be defined as something available to them and that to be successful in life, they need to take control of it.

Adapted from an article by Carol A. Kinlan. MEd, MBA, IECA (MA)