Adele Monsef
Isabelle Alexander
Executive Functioning Coaching
Understanding Executive Functioning
"The Hidden Curriculum"
What are Executive Functions?
Executive functioning refers to the cognitive processes that help people organise their thoughts and actions, manage emotions, plan ahead, solve problems and work towards goals. These skills include planning, organisation, prioritising, time management, flexible thinking, self-monitoring, emotional regulation and the ability to get started and stay engaged with a task.
Although these skills are fundamental to learning and independence, they are rarely taught explicitly in school. For many children and young people, particularly those with ADHD, autism or other neurodevelopmental differences, executive functioning skills may develop more slowly or require more direct teaching and support.
There are also ever increasing demands placed on children and teenagers can make these difficulties particularly visible. Academic expectations, multiple deadlines, extracurricular commitments and the constant distractions associated with phones and social media can all place additional demands on attention, organisation and self-regulation.
Difficulties with executive functioning can sometimes be misunderstood as laziness, lack of motivation or defiance when, in reality, a young person may not yet have the skills needed to manage what is being asked of them.
Executive functioning difficulties may include:
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finding it difficult to get started on a task
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feeling overwhelmed when a task involves several steps
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difficulty planning or knowing where to begin
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procrastination
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difficulty prioritising
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poor time awareness or time management
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problems organising schoolwork, belongings or deadlines
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difficulty maintaining attention and focus
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becoming stuck on perfection
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focusing on what is happening now rather than anticipating future demands
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difficulty adapting when plans or expectations change
How Executive Functioning Coaching Can Help
Executive functioning coaching aims to make these often-hidden skills more explicit.
Support begins by developing a clearer understanding of where a young person is struggling and what may be contributing to those difficulties. Where helpful, standardised measures can be used alongside information from the young person, parents and school to identify particular areas of strength and difficulty.
Coaching can then focus on practical, individualised strategies to support areas such as:
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planning and breaking tasks into manageable steps
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organisation of schoolwork and materials
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prioritising and managing competing demands
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developing more realistic awareness of time
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starting and completing tasks
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homework and revision routines
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managing distractions
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developing greater independence
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identifying strategies that work for the individual rather than relying on a single approach
The aim of EF coaching is not simply to make a young person more organised, but to support them in understanding how they work, recognise where difficulties arise and gradually develop strategies they can use more independently across school, home and everyday life.
Isabelle and Adele draw on their experience in learning, assessment and child development to help identify the executive functioning difficulties affecting an individual young person and consider the most appropriate strategies and support.
The work can be particularly helpful for young people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia or other learning and neurodevelopmental differences, as well as for students who are finding the increasing organisational demands of secondary school, sixth form or higher education difficult to manage.