Five External Signs of Executive Dysfunction That Show Up At School

“Demand avoidance”, poor generalization, prompt-dependence, and social skills challenges seem like isolated issues. But often they’re not. Many times they’re tied to executive functioning challenges. That’s why when I describe “executive dysfunction”, I cluster it into five broad areas:Attention, Learning Challenges, Behavioral Issues, Organization, and Social SkillsUsually, this is the point that the lightbulb goes on for a lot of clinicians and educators in the room as they realize executive functioning is the common sticking point behind many of their students’ challenges.When I support clinicians in designing executive functioning intervention frameworks, I start with explaining the external signs. Things like:✅ Refusing to do even the simplest of tasks, and putting more effort into avoiding the work than it would take to actually do it✅Behaviors that seem disproportionate to the situation, melt downs over things that barely phase their peers✅ Always appearing to be several steps behind✅ Not “reading the room” during functional tasks, and requiring tons of prompts✅ Lack of awareness of how they’re coming across to othersIn episode 266 of De Facto Leaders, I do a deep dive into these five external signs that tie back to executive functioning challenges. In this episode, I mention the Task Execution and Planning Protocol, which gives school clinicians an intervention strategy that takes students from “demand avoidance” and prompt dependence to independence during daily academic and functional tasks. You can learn more about the Task Execution and Planning Protocol here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/taskexecutionIn this episode, I mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership