Executive Functioning and Giftedness: Part 2

by: Erin Peace, LCSW, RPT
School Counselor

Part 1: Executive Functioning As a Spectrum of Skills

In Part 1 of this blog series on giftedness and executive functioning, we explored the dimensions of executive functioning and reviewed how to self-assess the various domains of executive functioning.

Many gifted and twice-exceptional students require executive functioning support for a variety of reasons, including a difference in their prefrontal cortex development compared to same-age peers. Many times, gifted students haven’t needed to practice study skills or time management skills due to completing material in class or finishing homework more quickly than their peers. These students can also complete material so quickly that they didn’t learn skills around planning for larger projects.

The domains of executive functioning can be found on a spectrum, and each students’ abilities vary both among the population and within the individual. In this post, you will find information on how to help your student strengthen two domains of executive functioning: organization and time management.

Collaborate: Goal-Plan-Do-Review for Organization

After an individual has identified their executive functioning strengths and weaknesses using a self-assessment (See Part 1 for more information), students should then be invited to collaborate on solutions together. Use the Goal-Plan -Do-Review approach to help students build their organization/planning skill:


    1. Goal: Before beginning, use a “team huddle” to identify what the student wants to accomplish (i.e. write a paragraph for my English essay)

    2. Plan: How will I accomplish this goal? What materials do I need? Who can help me accomplish this goal? Turn the steps into a written list or checklist

    3. Do: Implement the plan
    4. Review: Reflect on how well the plan worked, and what could be improved upon next time

Over time, adults should phase out supervision of the plan and implementation.


Time Management

Students benefit from finding a homework/assignment planner that works for them. Although some students prefer paper planners, others prefer using apps or calendar functions. Have students try out different methods like a science experiment, reviewing what worked and what needs to be tweaked. When students are able to find all of their assignments in one place, along with the due date and a section for notes, they increase their ability to organize materials and prioritize assignments.

Visual timers can be a great resource for students, especially those who experience “time-blindness.” This timer can be used to set five minute increments of work time, and five minute breaks, before building up to longer amounts of time as stamina builds. Apps such as Routinery and Tiimo allow students to set routines with visual reminders and timers.






Although many students struggle with these skills at first, with practice and scaffolding they can build their confidence and sense of self-mastery, until they no longer need adult intervention and supervision.

Executive Functioning and Giftedness

by: Erin Peace, LCSW, RPT
School Counselor

As we settle back into our routine for the school year, many of us emphasize setting resolutions for the new year. These resolutions or intentions can help us accomplish goals when we identify tasks that are meaningful and realistic; how can we encourage our gifted students to set and work towards goals that are meaningful to them?

Executive Functioning and Giftedness

Executive functioning refers to a neurological set of skills that help individuals regulate their emotions, and thereby their actions. These skills are needed in order to plan, organize, and follow-through on activities, and we can think of the executive functioning center of our brain as the concert conductor or air traffic controller of our actions.

Due to the asynchronous development of the brain among the gifted population, we see an extreme range of executive functioning abilities both among and within our students, and many of our students need scaffolding to help build these skills, especially in relation to non-preferred tasks. Due to their cognitive abilities, students may not have had to outline larger projects or executive time management as their same-age peers during elementary school, and they are forced to learn these skills in middle school or high school.

Collaboration with Gifted Students

In order to increase a student’s buy-in to increase these skills, providing education about the gifted brain and fostering collaboration with students can increase the motivation and willingness to pursue goals that are either important to them while increasing their sense of self-efficacy.

A collaborative conversation should be had with the student about a goal, and the adult can then help the student identify the steps into a checklist that the student can visualize and use daily. After using a system, we should then work with the student to evaluate the process and identify which strategies worked, and which need to be tweaked in order to be successful. Eventually, these systems should be modified to reduce adult supervision and intervention, which increases a student’s sense of self-efficacy and reduces the risk of enabling.


Task Initiation

Many times, our gifted students have an outstanding ability to focus and work on things that they find interesting or exciting. With larger or less-preferred tasks, we can help increase our student’s motivation by front-loading the work with enjoyable tasks, as well as setting a firm start time for the work. Short breaks can be interspersed with frequent acknowledgment of the student’s effort and progress. A solutions-focused approach can also be used to explore with the student about things they don’t procrastinate on, and what conditions allow for this increased sense of motivation and self-esteem. In a future blog post, we’ll explore how to help gifted students strengthen their time management skills in order to pursue these goals.

Where to begin? Start with an Executive Functioning Self-Assessment from Smart but Scattered HERE.

Book Resources: Smart but Scattered, and Smart but Scattered Teens.

Image Source for EF graphic: Focus Therapy
Image Source for Homework Planner: Smart But Scattered

October SEL Focus: Self Management

By Erin Peace, LCSW, RPT: ACE Academy School Counselor

After students have an understanding of self-awareness and the relationship between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, they can better understand how to practice self-management. Self-management, or self-control, is the ability to regulate (have control over) your thoughts/emotions/behavior and work towards goals. Although self-control sounds simple, it involves a variety of processes: impulse control, stress management, self-discipline, organizational skills, and self-motivation.

Giftedness and Self-Management

Children generally begin to develop the ability to self-regulate around age 4 as the prefrontal cortex "goes online", and this part of the brain continues to develop until around age 25. Although research about the gifted brain is limited, an article published in Nature posits that neural pruning may occur later in children with superior IQs (students scoring with an IQ above 120), indicating delayed executive functioning development. While children with an average IQ begin the neural pruning process at an average of age 8, this article hypothesized that this process didn't begin on average until age 12 for gifted children, indicating a delay in the development of the prefrontal cortex and executive functioning skills. Does this mean that gifted children do not have the capacity to develop impulse control and self-management? Of course not; it simply signifies the need for increased scaffolding and support from adults at home and at school.

Scaffolding Self-Management

A way to help students practice self-management and strengthen their executive functioning skills is to help them identify their strengths and areas for growth around self-management. This short Executive Function Questionnaire for young students can be a starting point in helping your student identify goals around their self-management, while also encouraging internal self-awareness and reflection. 

After helping students identify their areas for growth, help your student develop a plan to address one of the core areas of self-management: Impulse control, attention/focus, and/or emotion regulation. I always recommend starting with emotion regulation, as this skill helps students strengthen all other areas of self-control.

If your student continues to struggle even with increased support, consider connecting with an executive functioning coach, or going through an executive functioning workbook with your student. As always, your student's self-management skills will also depend on how you model these skills explicitly to your child.