How to Help Students with Executive Functioning Struggles Succeed at Writing

Why Executive Functioning Skills are Essential for Writing

Executive Function (EF) is a term used to describe a collection of cognitive and behavioral tendencies that aid in planning, time management, organization, and other self-regulatory processes. Students with deficient executive function struggle with many
academic tasks. Executive Functioning deficits reveal themselves in lost assignments, scattered ideas, task avoidance, and cognitive or emotional overwhelm.

Impulse control and task initiation are just two of the many behavioral issues that are common among those with EF deficits.
Communication, concept formation, and word/idea generation are a few of the other cognitive functions often associated with these behavioral trends. For these reasons, writing assignments are particularly challenging for students with executive function issues. In this article, we’ll go through what Executive Functioning skills are needed in each phase of writing and some strategies to support them.

Executive Functioning Strategies in the Pre-Writing Phase

Writing support for students with executive function deficits starts with planning strategies. Writing is an individual task, but preparation for writing can be assisted until self-reliant methods are developed. Initiate the writing session with a checklist. Start with the assignment itself, and ensure the writer understands the objective. Then break down the assignment into small goals or chunks of shorter tasks. This breakdown combats cognitive and emotional overwhelm by generating multiple opportunities for the student to achieve small victories throughout the longer writing process.

Steps in the checklist include brainstorming ideas, generating a thesis statement and topic sentences, outlining the content or inserting examples in a graphic organizer, and finally writing the paper- one paragraph at a time. Many writers feel the challenge of transferring their ideas to the page. Emotional regulation, especially for those who struggle with fear of failure, perfectionism, and performance anxiety, is key.

The second step in the writing process is to brainstorm ideas. This pre-writing activity is an easy and often fun part of the writing process. The incredible assistance of this strategy comes from the freedom it offers to cognitive functions. The transfer of thoughts to paper or screen frees up working memory space and creates a bridge to prior knowledge. This bridge is a necessary step in metacognition; it helps the student discover what they already know by activating prior knowledge and connecting it to the developing thought or generated idea that is the writing assignment itself. Both of these pre-writing activities (the checklist and the
brainstorming) can be done in a group or with a teacher or mentor, and both provide necessary supportive interventions to overcome writer’s block and other barriers to task initiation.

Step three can also be completed in a group or with a writing partner. It is time to organize the brainstormed ideas into an outline for writing. Middle and high school students and more advanced writers will develop their thesis statement and topic sentences at this phase in the process. Once the format of the paper is clear, plug pre-writing ideas into a graphic organizer or outline that adheres to the structure of the writing prompt. The next step can be tricky, and many students will experience another wave of anxiety and cognitive overwhelm here. It is wildly important to stick with the outline to build achievement stamina
and resist further task avoidance.

Executive Functioning Strategies in the Writing Phase

The planning and organization phases are complete. The student must now manage time and focus through the individual writing process. It is a good idea to reach for visual timers or other extrinsic motivators and use them consistently throughout step four of the writing process. Supportive strategies like pencil grips when handwriting, framed exercise balls as seating alternatives, and taking frequent, timed breaks are other strong suggestions for success at this phase. Adherence to the outline and working in twenty to thirty-minute blocks will help maintain focus and prevent cognitive overwhelm.

Remember: it is important to build achievement stamina. All writing occurs one sentence at a time. Be patient and kind to yourself if you are a student. Progress- no matter how slow- is still progress. The writing process will become easier with practice.

Written by Angela Moscheo, MA Education