Exploring executive function skills

BEST PRACTICE

Alliance early years development officer Rebecca Elsom explains what executive function skills are and how they can be harnessed in under-fives

Rebecca Elsom, early years development officer, is responsible for writing and delivering CPD resources that support best practice for early years providers

Imagine yourself in a supermarket. You'd looked in your cupboards and fridge before you left the house, wrote a list of items to get, and set a £20 spending budget – and not a penny more. You take yourself to the supermarket aisles you need to get eggs, bread and pasta (avoiding the temptation to go down any unlisted aisles…!), and remain polite whenever anyone bumps into you with their trolley by mistake.

Conducting the actions above as an adult, you'd be described as using your ‘executive function’ skills: “the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully”. (Centre on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2020)

Scientists have described these skills within three core areas: working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. These cognitive skills allow us to navigate ourselves through our daily lives, overcome challenges, plan and meet deadlines, ignore distractions and control our behaviour.

Children aren’t born with these skills. They’re not innately able to plan, remain focused or to regulate their own emotions or impulses – but they can learn to. In fact, it’s important that they are supported by responsive adults to learn and practise these things within their earliest years, as it’s thought that executive function skills can positively impact outcomes such as educational attainment and social skills.

Executive function skills and the EYFS

Although the exact term ‘executive function’ can’t be directly found within the Early Years Foundation Stage (2024), that’s not to say that its key message about supporting the development of these skills is missing from the framework.

We only have to look at the educational programme for personal, social and emotional development, which states that “children should be supported to manage emotions, (...) to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary”. Further reference to these skills is also outlined in the Early Learning Goals, especially under the heading ‘self-regulation’, with statements such as “begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly”, “control their immediate impulses when appropriate” and “follow instructions involving several ideas of actions”.

There’s a strong connection between executive function and ‘self-regulation’. As young children develop their executive function skills, they will begin to regulate and control their own emotions and behaviours. This will, in turn, help them learn to interact positively with others. We can support by modelling language for emotions, demonstrating actions such as how to interact with others positively or waiting our turn, as well as engaging in co-regulation to support the process of self-regulation to develop.

As professionals within the early years sector, we can use our knowledge of the unique children that we work with to recognise where they are on their journey to developing this range of skills. We can use this knowledge to plan engaging activities that specifically encourage children to use cognitive skills such as their memory, problem solving, or self-control. Young children do not actively choose to use their executive function (as older children do) and therefore adults are required to engage them in activities that will develop these skills.

What can we do to help children develop these skills?

For babies: A simple game of peekaboo can begin to develop their working memory as they learn to hold in mind that you still exist behind your hands or the scarf that you are hiding behind. They begin to develop their self-control skills as they anticipate the surprise of you revealing yourself.

For toddlers: Games such as Musical Statues helps to support their impulse control as they learn to hold themselves still when the music stops, fighting the urge to move or dance. What about hide and seek? I’m sure we can all recall playing hide and seek with a toddler who shouts out “I’m here!” before you have found them. As they begin to learn to keep themselves hidden and quiet waiting to be found, they will be building their impulse control and therefore developing and using their executive function skills.

For pre-schoolers: Cooking or baking activities can support them to work all of their executive function skills. They are required to use self-control when it comes to waiting their turn whilst in a group, their working memory to hold small pieces of information to follow instructions and remain focused when it comes to counting their scoops or measuring ingredients.

If you would like to find out more about executive function and how to support children to develop these skills within the early years, why not come along to our Alliance Insight Developing a child’s ‘thinking brain’ in the early years on Wednesday 10 April, 6.30pm-7.30pm – book your space here:
bit.ly/U5-Mar24-thinking-brain.

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