Is my Motherboard Working?

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AFFECTS HOW MANY AREAS OF LIFE?

When we start talking about executive functioning it does not take long to reach overwhelm because executive functioning affects so many different areas of one's life. It is not very different from the computer's motherboard.

 A computer's motherboard has every logic component attached to it. This includes the storage devices, CPU, RAM, and output device ports. The motherboard connections help all the components of a computer work together smoothly and fluently. The CPU then processes instructions by:

• Retrieving instructions needed to run a program from millions of instructions from program memory (what has or has not worked)
• Decoding (translating) language so it understands instructions
• Sequencing as a program counter keeps track of the CPU's position through an instructional address
• Synchronizing memory as it moves memory/data from one location to another
• Directing the assembly and manipulation of information into organized action instructions
• Evaluating the analyzed translated instructions by calculating complex equations, using arithmetic logic units (ALU)
• Adapting decision-making by moving to different addresses in the program
• Managing coordinated and integrated output so that the execution of programming occurs fluently
• Monitoring itself as it writes its progress through a program into its memory
• Activating for the start of the next set of new instructions

 As you can see, when there is a glitch in the motherboard there seems to be no end to the potential issues that can be affected.

The motherboard is like the brain and its CPU is like the prefrontal cortex which connects individual but interrelated meta-cognitive skills, self-regulatory skills, and management controls that retrieve, decode, sequence, direct, integrate, coordinate, organize and manage each skill fluently through activation, synchronization, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation.

When defining executive functioning, it is important to understand the true parameters of its potential for interfering with normal daily living.

• Executive functioning dysregulation/disorder is not a diagnosis but a theoretical framework that was developed around 1990 to help understand an invisible disability
• An EF deficit has a profound effect on all aspects of one's life. It refers to a cognitive struggle associated with multiple diagnoses involving learning difficulties, poor attention, and behavior problems.
• The prefrontal cortex is highly sensitive to stress. Even mild stress can overwhelm the prefrontal cortex with the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing executive functioning to shut down. 
• EF is not intelligence, it is a management system of multiple forms of knowledge. It involves expressing or translating what we already know into action.
• EF appears like an intuitive knowing of when to stop, go, shift gears, at what speed, and what intensity level, remembering and recalling appropriate knowledge with subconscious coordination and integration so that a goal can be reached. These mental functions, when managed and coordinated together, allow us to organize and manage many tasks in our daily lives.
• EF skills are essential for thinking, learning new information, accessing, remembering, and retrieving learned information, and putting it into action. It is through using and acting on this information that we develop and accomplish our learning, working,  and social goals at an appropriate age level of independence and competence. 

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AUTHORS

Marie Lewis is an author, consultant, and national speaker on best practices in education advocacy. She is a parent of 3 children and a Disability Case Manager, Board Certified Education Advocate, and Behavior Specialist Consultant. She has assisted in the development of thousands of IEPs nationally and consults on developing appropriately individualized IEPs that are outcome-based vs legally sufficient. She brings a great depth of expertise, practical experience, and compassion to her work as well as expert insight, vision, and systemic thinking. She is passionate and funny and she always inspires and informs.

MJ Gore has an MEd in counseling and a degree in elementary education and natural sciences. She worked as a life-skills and learning support teacher She has been honored with the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. She is the Director and on the faculty at the National Special Education Advocacy Institute. Her passion is social justice, especially in the area of education. She is a Board Certified Education Advocate who teaches professional advocates, educators, and clinicians the best practices in education advocacy.