Executive function is a big word that is thrown around in special education circles all the time. We do not talk about what it truly is and the impact when someone has a weakness in this area. To understand what is at stake we need to look at people that are successful in our education system. Many of the people that go to the best college and get the highest grades to have above average IQs. They also have strong executive functions. We often hear that they are successful because they work harder. There is some truth in that, but they are also able to work harder. The smartest people in our society often do not go to the best schools. There are many people with highly gifted IQs that do not do well in school. Certainly, there can be many reasons for success or failure. A commons problem of individuals underachieving in school is a weaker executive function. Of course, there are many other variables that can affect school achievement. Typically, people that are higher achievers in school have strong executive functions and above average IQs.
The good news with executive function is that it is developmental. That means that as young individuals get older executive function can improve. For some, it might take a number of years. Young students that show up late do not hand in their work, forget important details can overcome these deficits over many years. As educators, we do not usually work with fully grown adults. It nice to know that we have the technology to help fill in the gaps in development. The best part of technology is that you can bring it with when you leave school. The teacher that breaks everything down into small pieces stays in the building after the student graduates. Please take the time to look through a large number of technologies that help with executive function.