The start of the school year is a challenge. So let’s talk about one of the biggest challenges facing people with ADHD, executive dysfunction. Executive function is basically the brain’s management system and in ADHD it is often impaired, which we call executive dysfunction. Other parts in this series will discuss how to work with executive dysfunction for success, but today I’m going to talk about what it is and what it’s like to experience executive dysfunction.
While ADHD and executive dysfunction aren’t the same thing many, if not most, people with ADHD also deal with executive dysfunction. Executive function is the broad term for abilities that are in charge of many things we do every day such as managing our emotions and impulses, staying organized, time management, using our working memory, staying focused, flexible thinking, switching between tasks, starting tasks, and switching focus. Most of these tasks align with what people consider the main problems of ADHD. Executive dysfunction often becomes an inability to meet long term goals. This doesn’t mean that people who have executive dysfunction don’t have goals or don’t know what they need to do. It means that they are unable to or find it difficult to do the actions that would lead to them achieving their goals.
As someone who has ADHD, dealing with executive dysfunction can feel like you’re failing or you aren’t good enough because you know what you need to do to succeed and you know how to do it but you just can’t. This can be compounded by feeling overwhelmed by your own emotions, particularly stress or fear of failure. It’s a hard balance to know that you are capable of something while still being unable to complete the task. Bigger tasks or goals are even more intimidating because executive dysfunction makes organizing more difficult and each step creates another chance for executive dysfunction to get in the way.
Let’s look at some examples of executive dysfunction in my day to day. A really easy example is my environment. The busier or messier my environment the more I have to actively re-focus myself. Even something as small as the air conditioner turning on means my focus needs to be actively redirected back to my task, so the fewer times that I need to redirect the more energy and focus I’ll have to complete my task. Another example is time management. It can be difficult to know how long a task is going to take even really basic ones like having breakfast, which means creating a schedule and fitting in everything that I want to do is intimidating and creates the risk of me mismanaging my time and being late for things.
While I’ve learned ways to deal with my executive dysfunction, it’s taken a lot of time, practice, and mistakes over the years. As we learn more about executive functioning and the impacts it has on our lives, we can start to understand how to support ourselves and others who deal with executive functioning issues. The next few blogs will focus on building skills, environments, and re-adjusting to the school year from a few different perspectives.
