50 Signs Your Child Needs Executive Functioning Help (at home or school)

Does your child constantly lose their homework? Or forget what they were supposed to do five minutes after you told them? You’re not alone. Executive functioning challenges show up in sneaky—and often frustrating—ways at home and at school. And while every kid forgets things now and then, if it’s affecting daily life or academic success, it’s time to look closer.

Executive functioning skills are those oh-so-important skills we need to manage our lives–invisible when you have them. But, if you lack EF skills, it can be devastating. Job loss, financial ruin, health issues…all of these things can happen if you don’t know how to manage your lack of executive functioning.

Here are 50 real-life signs that your child might need help with executive functioning skills—plus what to do next.

Also read: List of Executive Functioning Skills; I have literally dozens of articles on Executive Functions, when you’re ready to dive in.

Response Inhibition

Also called inhibitory control or impulse control. The capacity to think before you act – this ability to resist the urge to say or do something allows us the time to evaluate a situation and how our behavior might impact it.

1. Calling out in class without raising a hand
2. Impulsive decisions (bad decisions, often result in discipline) when it is said that “the child knows better!”
3. Responding inappropriately (hitting, spitting, cursing) when wronged
4. Peers take advantage of him/her, does (inappropriate) things asked of them by peers
5. Misuses social media, ‘mean tweets’ or lashes out at others on social media, without thinking it through
6. Makes the same mistakes over and over, inability to learn from mistakes due to lack of impulse control, even with serious repercussions
7. Is an immediate follower of peers’ poor behavior, goes along with them
8. Cannot control negative responses, has to be heard, such as muttering bad words at a teacher after being reprimanded
9. If they think it, they say it; cannot control the things that “really shouldn’t be said out loud”

Emotional Regulation

The ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals, complete tasks, or
control and direct behavior. Individuals with poor emotional control may have trouble adapting efficiently to different situations. They may have difficulty self-monitoring their behavior and emotions.

1. Bounce back appropriately from minor disappointments, such as a favorite TV show not being on or not being able to get your favorite ice cream flavor
2. Unnecessarily sad or mad at seemingly small disruptions in their day or routine or expectations
3. Seemingly over-exuberant at mundane things–such as treating a trip to McDonald’s with the same enthusiasm as a trip to Disney.
4. Get overly emotional and fixate on things
5. Can make objective decisions in emotional situations, or knows to step back from the situation
6. Cannot take constructive criticism, lashes out when corrected

Planning and Prioritization

The ability to plan a project in your mind and on paper. People with weak planning and prioritizing skills may not know how to start planning a project.

They may be easily overwhelmed trying to break tasks into smaller, more manageable parts, and they may have trouble seeing the big picture.

1. poor productivity
2. cannot plan for the long term
3. cannot pick out which tasks should be done first
4. everything is important or nothing is important (because they are unable to discern)

Task Initiation

The ability to start a task in a timely manner.

1. Procrastination is the biggest signal you will see! The child has not started the task because it’s overwhelming to them.
2. Appears that they are ignoring parents’ or teachers’ commands when they likely do not know how to get started.
3. Have trouble starting and/or completing tasks
4. struggles to make choices

Flexible Thinking

The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information, or mistakes. It relates to adaptability to changing conditions. Those with trouble being flexible may be rule-bound and rigid in their thinking. They may not be willing to negotiate with other people.

They tend to be poor problem solvers and will repeatedly try the same solution that isn’t working. A person with reduced flexibility may have a hard time switching plans once they have been set.

1. Responds poorly to changes in schedule, routine
2. Rules follower, black and white thinking, does not see the gray areas in life
3. Panics when rules or routines change
4. Cannot understand different points of view
5. cannot adapt plans based on new information

Time Management

The ability to estimate how much time they have, how to allocate it, and how to
stay within time limits and deadlines. Understands a sense of urgency when it is warranted. The lack of time management skills is often referred to as time blindness.

1. Always late or super early
2. cannot manage morning tasks to be ready for school
3. cannot plan out a long-term school project or assignment, and how to complete it
4. no sense of urgency at getting to things on time
5. has little sense of time, what is one hour or three hours
6. could not pack a suitcase for a week’s vacation on their own
7. could not cook bacon, eggs, and toast all at the same time, ready to eat (reasonably so, of course)

Working Memory

The ability to hold information in memory while performing complex tasks. Working memory involves storing information, remembering lists of items and instructions, and solving problems quickly. It incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project into the future.

1. cannot remember things
2. loses items frequently
3. does not bring information taught to them previously to new school years or chapters of their lives, or even to the next lesson; cannot build on knowledge–it seems to exist in silos
4. cannot follow multi-step directions
5. does not complete homework or if completed does not bring it to school or hand it in
6. forgets things like lunch money, permission slips, and other essentials that are to be shared between home and school
7. cannot remember rules and instructions that teachers may have told them at beginning of the school year
8. cannot do locks on lockers, cannot remember combinations and how to manipulate
9. cannot tell others their address or parents’ phone number in emergency
10. poor storyteller–cannot recall, details are disjointed and not in sequence

Organization

The ability to keep their belongings organized. Can see and develop a logical system for keeping their belongings organized, such as clothes in the closet, socks in the drawer, and so on.

1. frequently cannot find things
2. loses personal belongings often
3. is unable to manage new belongings, such as presents at Christmas time, and find a spot for them in their room
4. cannot put laundry away without explicit instructions
5. doesn’t recognize nor follow organizational systems set up by others, at home or at school
6. school backpack and binders are in disarray

Attention, Focus, and Persistence

The ability to focus on something, and persist in focusing on it until the desired goal is achieved. Various psychologists break up these tasks, while others group them together and may use different terms.

1. gives up easily, even on seemingly desired activities
2. inattention
3. inability to stick to a short-term goal–clean room and then get ice cream
4. inability to stick to a long-term goal–allowance and money-saving goal or another achievement
5. easily distracted
6. cannot refocus when interrupted
7. can only focus in certain situations, cannot ‘tune out’ unnecessary distractions (within reason)
8. cannot concentrate on a task

Self Monitoring or Metacognition

Also referred to as metacognition. Ability to self-reflect, evaluate your own performance and behavior, and improve or make changes.

1. Is overly or under-sensitive to criticism, lacks the ability to see objectivity
2. frequently makes the same mistakes
3. cannot communicate their own errors when probed, such as from a music teacher or sports coach who asks “what could you have done better?
4. is not able to answer the question “How did you do?” when asked about school activities

And, as I said, there is a ton of overlap in all of these. Here are some more tasks and skills linked to executive functioning. Most will fit in several of the categories above.

Classroom Executive Functioning Skills

1. Have trouble organizing their thoughts
2. Have trouble keeping track of their belongings
3. Have difficulty managing their time
4. Paying attention
5. Organizing, planning, and prioritizing
6. Starting tasks and staying focused on them to completion
7. Self-monitoring (keeping track of what you’re doing)
8. Do things based on your experience
9. Multi-task
10. Planning projects
11. Estimating how much time a project will take to complete
12. Telling stories (verbally or in writing)
13. Memorizing
14. Starting activities or tasks
15. Shifting plans when situations change
16. Focusing only on one task
17. Shutting down when parents or peers don’t act as expected
18. Have difficulty prioritizing tasks
19. Forget what they just heard or read
20. Have trouble following directions or a sequence of steps
21. Have trouble switching focus from one task to another

Yes, this list has grown over the years and is now 84 items long. Hopefully it still helps, rather than overwhelms.

Executive Function Skill	Common IEP Supports	Adult Life Skill Carryover
Task Initiation	Prompts, visual schedules, teacher check-ins	Starting work tasks independently, beginning chores, initiating emails
Time Management	Extended time, chunked assignments, visual timers	Meeting deadlines, managing appointments, estimating time
Organization	Binder systems, color coding, checklists	Managing digital files, paperwork, workspaces, bills, and forms
Planning	Project breakdowns, guided planning templates	Managing long-term projects, meal planning, coordinating schedules
Working Memory	Written instructions, repetition, reduced task load	Following multi-step directions, remembering meetings and priorities
Emotional Regulation	Breaks, counseling supports, calm-down strategies	Handling stress, managing conflict, receiving feedback
Cognitive Flexibility	Predictable routines, advance notice of changes	Adapting to shifting priorities, interruptions, unexpected demands
Self-Monitoring	Rubrics, feedback, guided reflection	Catching errors, adjusting performance, knowing when to ask for help
Goal-Directed Persistence	Short-term goals, frequent reinforcement	Completing long-term tasks, sustaining effort, maintaining routines
Prioritization	Teacher-set priorities, reduced workload	Deciding what matters most, sequencing tasks, avoiding busy-but-unproductive work

What to Do if You Recognize These Signs

If you saw your kid in more than a few of those signs (hi, welcome to the club), here’s what to do next:

1. Talk to your child’s teacher or IEP team. Start a conversation. Executive functioning isn’t just about forgetting stuff—it’s a skill set, and it can be supported.
2. Request an evaluation. If these signs are affecting school, you can request evaluations to assess executive functioning. Put it in writing, always.
3. Get goals and supports in place. Yes, you can have IEP goals for executive functioning. And yes, I already have a giant list of them → [link to your “Executive Functioning IEP Goals” post].
4. At home? Use systems. Think visual schedules, daily routines, and one-step instructions. You don’t need to be Pinterest-perfect—you just need consistency.