SUPPORTING EXECUTIVE FUNCTION 

Between the ages of 11-13, it is a critical time for the building of foundational Executive Function skills that began in elementary school and will carry students through high school, including self-regulation, attention, task initiation, organization, planning and prioritizing, and time management. Below are several strategies and activities that you can use to help continue developing executive functioning skills in your middle and high school students.

• Create routines and practice them: students will experience having to collect their belongings and move around to different classrooms, so building awareness of how much time activities take can help them with timeliness and being prepared for passing periods.
• Have homework written down and stored in the same place every day: help your student to identify the best way for them to keep track of their assignments, such as a paper homework planner or a digital checklist, and create a folder or binder to store their assignments in when they are handed out or completed. This should travel to and from school with them.
• Encourage and support self-sufficiency and independence with their academic responsibility: encourage your student to regularly check their teacher’s website (Canvas, Google Classroom, Blackboard, etc.) for assignment information and due dates, especially during weekly organization time.
• Schedule a weekly organization time: set aside time at the beginning of the week for your student to review assignments, tests, projects, and other deadlines coming up for the week, as well as organize their materials, homework, and other need-to-haves to start their week.
• Clearly explain academic and social expectations: communicate with your student where there may be differences in middle school expectations versus elementary school, especially when it comes to communicating with teachers, navigating friendship conflict, and new school rules.
• Identify and develop skills for self-regulation: students can benefit from having a toolkit of regulation strategies for when they experience stress related to school and social challenges, such as deep breathing exercises, favorite physical activities, creative exercises, etc. Identify favored activities and build them into the daily or weekly routine.
• Help students reflect on and set their own goals: brainstorm with your student where they may experience challenges and focus on one goal at a time, ensuring the goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound). Remember to celebrate successes.
• Build self-advocacy skills: help your student develop comfort with communicating with their teachers about due dates, checks for understanding, class expectations, and getting support by first demonstrating the behavior to them, then encouraging independent imitation.