A specialist helping students get through the day

May 13, 2020

4 min read

Written by Jamie O’Meara

Illustration by Paula Cruz

You might not know it, but there’s a reason you can make a to-do list — and then actually do it. Or stay focused on that book you want to read. Or resist the impulse to check Facebook every five minutes. And there’s a reason why you, or someone you know, may struggle with some or all of these things. It all comes down to one largely invisible, albeit critical, skill set: executive functioning.

In a non-scientific nutshell, executive functioning (EF) is a blanket term for your brain’s self-management system. EF is what allows us to, among other things, maintain focus, plan and prioritize, resist distractions, accomplish goals and control our impulses.

“They are planning and processing skills that tell us how to think through and complete assignments as well as meet expectations and achieve goals,” Progress Parade expert learning specialist Tulin Akin explains. “An example would be, if I’ve got five things to accomplish today, how can I prioritize them to make sure I get them all done? Can I stick to one task before moving on to the next one?”

Though executive functioning skills could, in many ways, be considered “soft skills,” says Tulin, they are nevertheless the underlying skills central to our ability to navigate the world, and “are really the things that get us through the day.”

Success is just a change in strategy away

Tulin is a certified school psychologist and managing education specialist who works as a tutor and EF consultant at Progress Parade and Chicago Home Tutor. She has considerable experience working with students in all academic areas but chose to specialize in executive functioning after observing the effects of poor EF skills on student performance and long-term functioning.

“I was working in public schools for about 11 years, and the base of almost every kid’s challenges, I found, were dysfunctional executive functioning skills,” says Tulin. “They had strategies, but the strategies just weren’t working for them. And people stick to the strategies they have because they’re comfortable with them.”

"I love watching kids grow in confidence, seeing them realize that their new strategies are working."

It’s human nature to keep doing what we’re doing, no matter how dysfunctional, because that’s easier than trying to change. However, EF skills can and will improve with help, including proven-to-be-effective intervention strategies such as attention control training and mindfulness-based training. Task-switching computerized training, specific combinations of computerized and interactive games, and even Taekwondo have also been shown to be effective. However, Tulin notes, there is still much to be discovered in terms of treatment.

“There has actually been kind of an explosion in research looking at brain imaging and things like that, trying to understand what executive functioning looks like,” she says. “The challenge of executive functioning is that there are multiple definitions, so it depends on what theory researchers use when they’re doing their research. There’s a general idea of what it means, but there’s no, like, blood test that tells you that you have difficulty with this skill or that skill.

“What I’d like to see research going towards, but they’re not there yet, is more research done on treatment. Right now, we’re still at the beginning stages of understanding how to help people with executive functioning needs.”

Growing confidence is key

There is one consistent milestone on the road to success for both student and tutor: the point at which confidence takes over and the plan comes together.

“I love watching kids grow in confidence, seeing them realize that their new strategies are working,” Tulin enthuses. “That strategy they didn’t want to put in place because it was uncomfortable? They worked through it and started to see how successful that was.”

Tulin recalls getting especially excited about one student in particular, a boy she’d been working with for three years.

“He has really severe ADHD and organization is difficult for him – extremely difficult,” she says. “When tutoring him, I would say, ‘Share your Google doc with me,’ and it would have to be repeated multiple times. And then eventually he actually started pre-sharing documents with me, which was really exciting because it was a huge deal. He got to see how it left us more time in sessions to do the work that needed to be done as opposed to us spending 10 minutes trying to get organized and then rushing to complete things.

“So what really makes me happy is when their confidence grows as a result of the strategies we’ve put in place, and all of a sudden that confidence transfers to other things and becomes ‘Oh, I can do this work.’”