Executive Functioning - Engagement or Focus

Provision and/or strategies: approaches, adjustments and specific interventions expected to be made by settings according to the ages and stages of the CYP

Universal

• Recognise that attention is influenced by multiple factors, including understanding, working memory, emotional wellbeing, motivation, sleep, diet, and sensory needs.
• Support CYP to understand what affects their attention, using age‑appropriate language and strategies.
• Develop self-awareness and self-regulation, helping CYP identify what supports or hinders their focus.
• Encourage increasing independence, with parental/carer involvement where appropriate.
• Break learning into clear, manageable steps with explicit endpoints (e.g. chunking, backward chaining, task planners).
• Use clear, consistent routines to reduce cognitive demand and support sustained engagement.
• Prioritise quality over quantity, ensuring tasks and recording are purposeful and accessible.
• Ensure instructions are concise and sequenced, avoiding overload.
• Minimise unnecessary processing demands, including:
  • Reducing copying and transcription
  • Highlighting key information and instructions
  • Simplifying and chunking tasks
• Adapt resources to avoid overload, including simplifying visuals and limiting competing information.
• Present information clearly and accessibly, using visual, verbal and practical supports.
• Reduce environmental distractions, including noise, visual clutter and movement.
• Seat CYP strategically based on individual needs.
• Provide predictable, structured environments that support sustained attention.
• Use motivating, meaningful and multi-sensory activities to enhance engagement.
• Incorporate movement and sensory regulation opportunities, including:
  • Planned movement breaks
  • Active learning opportunities
  • Access to quiet or low-stimulation spaces
• Use visual supports consistently, such as:
  • Visual timetables
  • 'Now and next' / first-then boards
  • Timers (e.g. sand, digital, traffic light systems)
• Use brief, scaffolded interaction sequences to develop attention, gradually increasing expectations for sustained focus.
• Explicitly teach strategies for attention and regulation, such as:
  • Focusing techniques (e.g. "look, listen, think")
  • Breaking tasks down
  • Using prompts, checklists or visual cues
  • Sustaining and shifting attention
  • Task initiation and completion
  • Planning and organisation
  • Self-monitoring and checking
• Model and practise sustained attention, with adult support gradually reduced.
• Provide regular opportunities for rehearsal and practice of attention skills in different contexts.
• Observe and respond to signs of reduced engagement, adjusting teaching in the moment.
• Use flexible approaches, adapting pace, task and support to maintain attention.
• Reinforce effort and engagement, not just task completion.

Targeted

• Targeted executive function support should be:
  • Explicit - directly teach thinking, attention and self‑regulation processes
  • Structured - scaffolded, sequenced and broken into manageable steps
  • Repetitive - include frequent guided practice and rehearsal
  • Integrated - embedded within curriculum, vocational and real-life contexts
  • Fading - gradually reduce support to build independence
• Identify specific executive function barriers (e.g. attention, initiation, organisation, regulation).
• Use targeted assessment and observation to pinpoint breakdowns in engagement and focus such as:
  • BRIEF2 (Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function)
  • Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
  • Attention & Engagement Observation, Leuven Involvement Scale (well suited to Early Years but adaptable)
• Set small, specific, measurable targets, focusing on functional outcomes (e.g. sustaining attention, starting tasks).
• Teach strategies explicitly, rather than relying on environmental adjustments alone.
• Allow additional time, structure and rehearsal opportunities.
• Adapt approaches for stage of development:
  • Early Years: play-based, adult‑guided attention and interaction
  • School age: structured, curriculum‑linked strategy teaching
  • Post‑16: study skills, independence and self-management focus
• Ensure consistency across staff and contexts to reinforce learning.
• Increase frequency of adult check-ins to maintain engagement.
• Be cautious with working memory training programmes:
  • Gains are typically task-specific
  • There is limited evidence of broader impact on learning
• Prioritise reducing cognitive load across all teaching, including:
  • Chunking instructions
  • Using visual supports and prompts
  • Repetition and rehearsal
  • Minimising unnecessary demands
  • Applying these strategies consistently across environments, not just in interventions.