"Get your act together": Executive function

       "Get Your Act Together": Executive Function

Do you know someone who has difficulty planning, sequencing  and implementing actions? For example, if he is an adult, he knows he has to go somewhere, but consistently forgets to take the things he needs for the trip? Maybe he has trouble getting steps of a project, or several errands, done in the best order.  Does he have trouble with time management and multi-tasking? This is a consistent pattern of difficulty, not just once or twice.

If the person is a student, he may forget to write the assignment down, bring it and the necessary materials home, do the assignment, bring it back to school, and hand it in to the instructor.

The person may be showing signs of executive function impairment. People who have had head injuries, ADHD/ADD, Aspergers or autism, non-verbal learning disorders, learning disorders,  or Tourette's Syndrome may be more likely to have this, but it can happen to others as well.

Executive function impairment is caused by problems in the pre-frontal and frontal lobes of the brain; other brain regions may also be involved.

What can be done about it? First, it helps to get the problem properly assessed, so the recommendations and training can be more specific and effective. Neuro-psychologists and some general psychologists can test for this.  Some speech-language pathologists also can give tests for this.

Strategies to improve executive functioning can  be provided by some speech-language pathologists, neuro-psychologists and psychologists. Ask before making the appointment if they provide this specific type of assistance.

If the person is a student in public school, ask if the school psychologist can test for this. While waiting for the lengthy process before testing can be done, you may want to read some books on the subject.

Three excellent books for executive functioning in children are: Late, Lost and Unprepared, by Joyce Cooper-Kahn, PhD and Laurie Dietzel, PhD,  Organizing the Disorganized Child, by Martin L Kutscher and Marcella Moran, and  Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare.

There are many websites that talk about executive functioning disorder. Three to check out are http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/7051.html, http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/executive-function,     http://www.ldonline.org/article/24880/, and one YouTube video on it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1IZJXc6d8 . One specifically on executive function in the workplace is http://www.tsa-usa.org/news/2012ConfPresentations/ExecutiveDysfunctionintheWorkplace.pdf

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