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RUNNING HEAD: EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION

Executive Dysfunction: The Impact on Academics

Mary Learned EDU 690 University of New England 02/06/12

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Success starts within. An individual must be able to plan, organize, show self-discipline and execute actions in order to achieve academic success. Executive functioning skills, the cognitive ability to stop, think and act are what create a gateway for achievement to flourish. Students who lack in these capacities are more prone to show signs of executive dysfunction, which in turn, needs more practice to turn into a productive state of mind. The following literature reviews focus on how students are affected by executive dysfunction and the effects this has on learning. The key in finding a manageable way to develop and nurture executive functioning skills is to target individuals and apply strategies that show success in improving skills in specific subjects.

What it Looks Like and What We Do One easy way to spot a child who may have executive functioning issues is to look inside their desk. It is common to think of this poor upkeep of space as a form of laziness or carelessness. Fielding (1995) connected the lack of organizational skills to a deficit in visual/spatial relationships. This is an issue much more serious than the average lazy person. Individuals exhibit these characteristics when they tend to lose things frequently, act absent minded or seem confused. Fielding drew attention to the fact that a student who has issues with reading cannot make connections with these types of relationships and be lost. In turn, Fielding promoted the use of memory aids, assignment books, structured routines and clear, simple directions to assist in overcoming the deficits of the lack of executive functioning skills. The goal is simple, to provide scaffolding that promotes independence and practice at refining their executive function skills. Kaufman (2010) has created a myriad of supports for students who suffer from a lack of executive function (EF) skills. His research has concluded in the fact that executive function skills are developed over

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time, starting in infancy when babies first realize that when they cry, they will get a response and developing into adolescence. This begins the developmental progression of self-regulation. Executive function is divided into two strands; the metacognitive strand and the social/emotional regulation strand. The metacognitive strand allows students to purposefully move towards completing tasks, even if they do not like the task at hand. Elements of the metacognitive strand are goal setting, planning/strategizing, sequencing/ordering, organization of materials, time management, task persistence, executive (goal directed) attention, self-monitoring, working memory, and set shifting. The social/emotional strand is divided into response inhibition/impulse control, emotional control and adaptability. All of these strands connect to behavior regulation (Kaufman, 2011). Kaufmans explanation of the core concepts of EF are applied in his chapters that have to do with pushing students to exercise better use of the frontal lobe of their brain. Specific chapters are dedicated to reading, math and writing with graphic organizers and scaffolding to support weak executive function skills. He points out that everyone is weak in some capacity with executive functioning skills, and no two students may exhibit the same weakness (Kaufman, 2011). Executive function skills may not be developmentally in sync with an adolescents growth, especially as they are entering the middle level years of their education. Hudson (2008) stated that A 2008 study by the University of Montreal found that the average teen spends almost 30 hours per week in front of a screen-either television or computer-and the human brain must learn to manage the huge tide of data (p. 74). This alone, could impede the development of EF skills. Add to the mix the need of sleep, emotional roller coasters, overloads of data, emotional changes and the search for autonomy, the teen age brain is working on overdrive to prepare for adulthood. Therefore, the most important thing to take away from Hudson (2008) is that teen brains fluctuate (p. 74-5). Teens may be able to

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articulate their feelings like an adult, but yet cannot control their inhibitions and emotionally behave like an adolescent.

Impact of ADHD on Executive Functioning Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a major inhibiting factor when it comes to working executive function skills. Codding, Lewandowsk and Gordon, (2001) look at the impact that the lack of these skills impose on boys that were diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of 6-12 from the perspective of their mothers. Forty boys mothers were interviewed, twenty with ADHD, twenty without, and they assessed their boys based upon four different checklists; the ADHD Symptom Checklist (ADHD-SC4), Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-P), School-Home Information Profile (SHIP), and Childrens Inhibition and Executive Function Scale (CHIEFS) (p. 2) . There was found to be a direct connection with ADHD in these boys and the inability to control impulsive behaviors which in turn, affected their skills in making decisions, controlling decisions, mental math, following rules, waiting for praise and gratification and even solving problems creatively (Codding et al., 2001). Codding et al. (2001) also point out that nonverbal working memory, verbal working memory, selfregulation and reconstitution are four executive functions that were shown to be impacted the most. These skills impact things such as completing common everyday tasks, reading comprehension, probing themselves to self reflect, and motivation. Reconstitution connects with the ability to take pieces of one thing learned and apply them in other settings. Each of these EF skills are imperative to learning. ADHD affects each one. Codding et al. (2001), made a point to say that until EF is defined as a set of constructs, it is hard to find a definitive approach to treat these deficits. At the point in time when the research was conducted, it was all based upon theoretical guidelines, not empirical evidence.

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Fischer, Barkley, Smallish and Fletcher, (2005) reported that adults with ADHD showed the same executive function weaknesses as children. The study that Fischer et al (2005) reported on focused on following the persistence of EF deficits from adolescence into adulthood to see whether or not these issues were constant. They also looked at depression and Conduct Disorder in their studies. Results from Fischer et al (2005) were based upon a group of individuals that were tracked over the course of approximately 16 years. They were first evaluated in 1979 or 1980 between the ages of 4-12 and were later seen, and all were found, between 1992 and 1996. There was a successful completion of the study with over 90% of the participants that were divided into two main control groups Hyperactivity (H) and Community Control (CC). The results, even with some biases, showed that there were significant differences between the two groups with relations to EF skills, even as adults. Although the results are not elaborated on, the H group had more impairments than the CC group as they progressed into adulthood (Fischer et al., 2005). Academic Impact of the Lack of EF Skills A common theme that is prevailing among these scholarly articles is that lacking EF skills does not mean that a person is lazy, although the signs and outward results of their inability to function on a daily basis is perceived as such. Bausch, D. (2005), states The ADHD brain demonstrates impaired functioning in certain specific areas (executive functions) that control memory, time awareness, motivation, and attention. No amount of willpower can overcome this sort of brain functioning. What is important then, is what we can do for this impairment. Bausch, D. (2005) promotes educating teachers on ADHD and being advocates for students suffering from ADHD which effects their EF skills. The discussion of ADHD Coaching is also approached in the article to help students succeed in a secondary level of education. This new solution is to help retain and even attract students to stay in school for post-secondary education. The goal in mind with the program is to offer

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skill practice that will help the student succeed in school and take them further in life. There is no solid research or data involved in the article that Bausch puts forth, yet the concept matches the ideas in many other of the sources in this literature review. Executive functioning skills are seen both socially and cognitively. Ursache, Blair, Bierman and Nix (2011), describe a study where early childhood setting is set up to assess whether or not using Research-based, Developmentally-Informed(REDI) intervention programs has an affect on readying students for kindergerten with EF skills. The basis of the study is to see whether or not there are gains in the areas of language and literacy skills as well as social-emotional skills. This program was used in forty four Head Start Programs in Pennsylvania. The parts included in the curriculum: REDI curriculum components included: (1) a dialogic reading program vocabulary props, (2) sound games to build phonological awareness, to support letter identification skills, and (4) a PATHS (Domitrovich, Cortes teaching with

(3) print center activities

social-emotional learning program, Preschool

& Greenberg, 1999). In addition, the program targeted classroom

practices, including positive classroom management, rich and complex skills (Ursache

language use, emotion coaching, and support for social problem-solving et al., p. 4).

There is a connection between stress and the development of EF skills. This curriculum is set up to teach age appropriate skills to alleviate stress, thus allowing students to focus on the skills needed for school readiness. These skills connect directly to the development of EF skills. Data collected from the study confirmed that the REDI curriculum benefited the students learning behaviors. The results for EF were a little less clear. It seems that there were positive results, although it was stated that more testing using a multilevel SEM needed to occur to verify results (Ursache et al., 2011).

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Overall, the REDI program was a positive indicator that EF skills can be cultured and developed in an early ed program to help with success in kindergarten. Peterson, Lavelle, and Guarino (2006) assess the relationship between college students study skills and their executive functioning capacities. The main goal of their study was to see what relationship there was between executive processing, learning and self-regulatory strategies, and students perceptions of life events and academic performance (p. 60). This connects to both the metacognitive and the social/emotional strand that Kaufman (2010), refers to in his book by combining the academic piece with the social elements that play a part in the decision making that individuals do on a regular basis. Eighty one college students, average age of 18.3, participated in the study. They were asked to take the Learning and Study Skills Inventory (LASSI) and the Executive Functioning Rating Scale (EFRS), and their high school GPA and final course grades. The results that were formulated support that the strategies that students use, particularly self-regulatory strategies, time management, and concentration, are related to deficits in executive functioning (Peterson et al., 2006, p. 63). Suggestions in the study were made, similar to the early education scenarios of Ursache, Blair, Bierman and Nix (2011) to practice strategies to improve time management and the redirection of interfering thoughts. There was a valid point made with regards to students needing to view themselves as proactive agents in the process of promoting and enhancing self-regulatory and executive skills in an autonomous fashion (Peterson et al., 2006). All eight of these literature reviews all focus on executive functioning and how the metacognitive and the social/emotional strands affect learning in adolescents. Students suffering from ADHD are likely to be more impacted by executive dysfunction due to the fact that their brain has a hard time focusing on the metacognitive strands that control executive functioning. Each study, labeled here investigates ways to find connections and bridges that will help individuals reach success academically.

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Reference List

Bausch, D.M. (2005). Whats wrong with that kid? Inquiry, 10(1), 70-74.

Codding, R.S., Lewandowski, L., and Gordon, M. (2001). Executive functioning in boys [PDF document]. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED463478

with ADHD

Fielding, E.N. (1995). The messy desk. The Education Digest, 60 (6), 65-66.

Fischer, M., Barkley, R.A., Smallish, L, Fletcher, K. (2005). Executive functioning in hyperactive children as young adults: Attention, inhibition, response perseveration, and the impact of comorbidity. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27(1), 107-133. Hudson, M.K. (2008). Whats going on in that teen brain? Instructor, 118(1), 74-75. Kaufman, C. (2010). Executive function in the classroom. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.

Ursache, A., Blair, C., Bierman, K., & Nix, R. (2011). Executive function as mediator of kindergarten learning behaviors one year after the pre-K head start from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/

effects on

REDI intervention. Retrieved

contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED518867