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Hello Brains! I was going to start this episode 
with me juggling a bunch of different tasks

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to demonstrate a situation that required 
way too much executive function.

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But I realized getting all the props for 
that and figuring out how to act it out and 
film it properly required...

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way too much executive function. [sigh]

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Did I use that term right? What is executive 
function?

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[Intro music]

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According to our "How to ADHD" dictionary, 
executive function; noun; is a set of cognitive 
processes that help us self regulate

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so we can effectively plan, prioritize and 
sustain effort toward our goals.

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Executive function is kind of like the CEO 
of the brain, it helps us go from wanting 
to do a thing, to actually getting it done.

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And there’s a lot that goes into that.

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The cognitive processes that make up executive 
function are things like response inhibition, 
which helps us not be impulsive,

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working memory, which helps us hold information 
in our head temporarily or remember it while 
we work with it,

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set shifting, which is what helps us with 
shifting between tasks that have different 
cognitive demands,

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and the ability to delay immediate gratification 
so we can achieve long term rewards. In ADHD, 
the research term for this is delay aversion.

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These functions help us with what people 
often call “being an adult”.

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Which makes sense, because executive function 
is located in the last part of the brain 
to develop,

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and doesn’t fully develop until around the 
age of 25. In ADHD brains, it takes even 
longer.

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According to ADHD researcher Dr. Russell 
Barkley, executive function in ADHD is up 
to 30% delayed.

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Which is why those with ADHD can seem immature, 
and even once it does fully develop, it’s 
still impaired.

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So some of the things parents do to support 
their kids executive function: make sticker 
charts, lists, put away distractions, create 
routines…

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They might have to do more of or for longer 
for their ADHD kids. And as adults, we often 
need to do this for ourselves.

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This is so critical for those of us with 
executive function challenges that Dr. Barkley 
compares it to building a ramp for someone 
in a wheelchair.

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It’s a necessary accommodation if we want 
to get to where we’re trying to go.

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Not everyone with ADHD has impairments with 
all of the cognitive  processes involved 
in executive function:

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for example, one brain's working memory might 
be just fine, but everyone with ADHD does 
have impairment in executive function overall.

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Often it’s not that we don’t know what to 
do, it’s that we don’t have the executive 
function to effectively do it.

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So, if you or someone you love is having 
a hard time getting things done, you might 
ask:

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Is this actually about effort, or is this 
an executive function issue?

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When trying to create an ADHD friendly environment, 
you might consider: What would make things 
easier on executive function?

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If there are behaviors you want to discourage, 
you might ask:

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What would require more executive function? 
How could I make doing this thing harder?

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And if you’re having a bad brain day because 
you didn’t sleep well last night, you could 
say:

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My executive function isn’t doing great right 
now, maybe I need to skip the complicated 
intro.

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Because, as my good friend Eric Tibbers(?) 
puts it, we can do hard things, but we don’t 
need to do them in the hardest way possible.

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You can check out some of our videos on ways 
to support executive function here,

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and we’re gonna be going deeper into different 
executive functions in future videos.

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Thank you to my Brain Advocates, and all 
my Patreon Brains for supporting content 
like this.

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Because of your support, I’ve been able to 
expand my very neurodiverse team,

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which is making it easier on all of our executive 
function.

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Like, subscribe, click all the things, and 
I will see you in the next video!

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Bye Brains!

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[Outro music]