Supporting Neurodivergent Children's Executive Functioning Skills to Function, In Lower Demand Ways – Ideal for Autistic / ADHD / PDAers!

This blog has been inspired by the webinar delivered by Dr Joanne Riordan Neurodivergent Educational Psychologist & Director of Dr Joanne Ltd for The PDA Space Portal September 2024.

There is a free downloadable e-book for parents and professionals available at https://www.thepdaspace.com/e-books

The accompanying webinar is available in The PDA Space Portal.

What are executive functioning skills?

Executive Functioning = The skills required to plan, organise, remember, & complete tasks, from beginning to end.

Executive functioning can affect many aspects of a person’s life from being able to successfully manage events such as going to the toilet, getting dressed and undressed and being able to organise homework or plan a day and work schedules when your children are older. Many neurodivergent children (Autistic / ADHD / PDA) may struggle with executive functioning and things such as remembering multiple items, even when they are regulated and motivated can be much harder.

Executive functioning can also affect literacy skills and this has a ripple effect on other subjects at school. You may have noticed your child has a great imagination but struggles to get their ideas down or forgets things like punctuation and grammar or spelling in longer pieces of work. Organising pieces of work will also be much harder if your child is also dyslexic or dysgraphic). If your child struggles with this, it is worth chatting to their teacher to discuss some ideas that may support them such as those listed below and in the webinar by Dr Joanne Riordan.

(This may also be due to monotropism so it is worth looking at our resources about the theory of monotropism too!)

According to the research by Goodson (UCL Thesis, 2018) Autistic individuals, including those with a PDA profile, have been found to have more executive functioning difficulties.

• Executive functioning difficulties and demand avoidance are linked. In the study, it was found that particular executive functioning difficulties were linked to particular demand avoidance patterns.
• Difficulties with transitioning from pleasant to less pleasant tasks were predicted by difficulties with planning, organising, initiating and holding information in mind.
• Non-compliance in situations involving uncertainty was predicted by difficulties with inhibition, shift behaviours and emotional control.
  
   
• Executive functioning skills affect so many aspects of a person’s life for example:
• Time management: Ability to complete tasks.
• Flexibility: Ability to modify and adapt to changing situations.
• Organisation: Ability to develop systems to manage.
• Task initiation: Ability to start & stop tasks.
• Working memory: Ability to use memory to complete tasks.
• Self-control: Ability to stop & think before acting.

Neurodivergent people (autistic / ADHD / PDA) often have spiky profiles. This means that they may be really good at some things and find other areas much more difficult. It is important to realise that everyone’s needs are fluid and what a person may be able to do one day they may not be able to achieve the next for a whole host of reasons including:

dysregulation and anxiety, tiredness, burnout, high-demand environments and the impact on the sensory system. All of this will have a huge impact on a person’s executive functioning skills.

How can we support people with their executive functioning skills?

Adding structure and routine can usually help executive functioning skills. However, we know PDAers can often find this a demand experience in itself!  Collaborative planning can help children feel more in control. Dr Joanne also shared these ideas:

Co-Regulation

Tasks with higher executive functioning demands are likely to lead to dysregulation, as they are more challenging if you have difficulties in this area (above the demand avoidance).

Do Tasks Together

Collaborate. Ask 'wonder questions' to help add structure.

If drawing together, ask wondering questions to help organise equipment

before starting. "I wonder what we should get out to use, pencils or felt tips?"

Body Doubling

Do tasks in parallel but not together, so that your child can utilise your executive functioning

Provide low-demand visual sequences.

This can be used for all sorts:

• Dressing in sequence
• Writing (and you perhaps modelling planning and editing)

Utilise Technology

•  Writing on a computer is easier to edit (& can edit 1 aspect at a time.
• Model using technology yourself, to set reminders & aid organisation.
• Potential for Al (e.g. scanning for key points in longer documents etc.

Reduce Memory Demands

• If giving an instruction or key point, reduce the number of points that your child can retain.
• If your child is doing extended writing, it is likely to be easier to write about an experienced event or picture they can see.

Reduce Executive Functioning Demands

• Take out non-essential executive functioning demands, so you can prioritise capacity.
• Practise Executive Functioning Skills in Play (Providing your child is regulated and open to this)
  
  There are many professionals who may be able to formally assess executive functioning difficulties and provide neurodiversity-affirming support. Children can be assessed either formally or in low demand non-standardised ways by:
• Educational Psychologists (across language, memory, and tasks)

Speech and language therapists (across language and memory

Summary
Executive functioning skills are the skills required to plan, organise, remember, & complete tasks, from beginning to end. For many neurodivergent children, these skills fluctuate, and PDAers are more likely to have difficulties with executive functioning skills as any imposed routine and structure can also feel like a demand.

This provides a further barrier to engaging in tasks, following instructions and being able to thrive in the way we wish for our children. This makes executive functioning skills harder to assess and it is more difficult to find support for PDAers.

However, there are PDA-affirming strategies we can use, to support our PDAer's executive functioning skills and we are encouraging you to reach out to The PDA Space to share what has worked for you / your child and family.

We have a supportive community space on Facebook and have many free downloadable resources on The PDA Space website to provide you with further information and signposting.