SIMPLY

Executive Function is the “conductor” of all cognitive skills. It coordinates:

• Inhibition - The ability to stop one’s own behavior at the appropriate time, including stopping actions and thoughts. The flip side of inhibition is impulsivity; if you have weak ability to stop yourself from acting on your impulses, then you are "impulsive."

• Shift - The ability to move freely from one situation to another and to think flexibly in order to respond appropriately to the situation.

• Emotional Control - The ability to modulate emotional responses by bringing rational thought to bear on feelings.

• Initiation - The ability to begin a task or activity and to generate ideas, responses, or problem-solving strategies

• Working Memory - The ability to hold information in mind for the purpose of completing a task

• Planning/Organization - The ability to manage current and future-oriented task demands

• Organizational Materials -The ability to impose order on work, play, and storage spaces

• Self-Monitoring - The ability to monitor one’s own performance and to measure it against the standard of what is needed or expected

Executive function has proven to be positively associated with academic success, goal achievement and satisfaction. The tremendous tools below can help you build strengths in all areas of executive function.