Helping your Student with Task Initiation (An Executive Function Skill)

By Monica McGuire, Director of Communications, Russell Coaching

This week’s executive functioning skill is task initiation. Task initiation is the ability to get started on a task, especially a task you don’t want to do. There can be many reasons students struggle with task initiation, including, but not limited to, lack of skill, task overwhelm, perfectionistic tendencies, fear of failure, poor self-concept, distractibility, boredom (need for constant stimulus), poor working memory, poor concept of time, oppositional defiant behavior, depression, sleepiness, learned helplessness, and lack of motivation. Being able to identify where your student’s hang-ups are will help you find a solution that works best for them. Issues such as defiance, depression, and learned helplessness will most likely require some professional help to sort through. Here are three things you can do to help strengthen your student’s task initiation skills.

Remove distractions when projects need to get underway. Help your student get started on undesirable tasks, by removing distracting items from their workspace. Having a no-texting rule during homework or other tasks can help keep your student focused and motivate them to finish so that they can get back to doing what they really want to do. You may need to remove video games as an option until grades are consistent.

Outline project or task steps to diminish uncertainty. As we’ve discussed before, sometimes students have a hard time beginning a project or task because they don’t understand what it entails, making it hard for them to know where to start. By helping your student outline the steps required for the project and placing those steps in a logical order, you can help diminish your student’s uncertainty, which in turn can help them find the motivation to begin the project.

Make task initiation appealing through the promise of consequences. For example, if your student is supposed to empty the dishwasher each day, but drags their feet and requires multiple reminders, let natural consequences pave the way for them. Let them know that if they don’t empty the dishwasher right away they will not only have to empty the dishwasher but also fill it with any dirty dishes that pile up. If your student already dislikes emptying the dishwasher, the threat of filling it as well may motivate them to pay more attention and empty the dishwasher as soon as the dishes are clean. Experiences like these help create a clear connection between task initiation and rewards and consequences and make it easier for your student to see why they may want to start a project right away.

Helping your student by removing distractions, outlining project steps, and providing consequences can lead to greater task initiation skills for your student. These skills will make it easier for your student to start tasks, leading to a happier school and home life.

Some of the information for this email (including the list of reasons students struggle with task initiation) came from The Impulsive, Disorganized Child: Solutions for Parenting Kids with Executive Functioning Difficulties, by James W. Forgan, Ph.D., & Mary Anne Richey c. 2015.

About the Author
Monica McGuire is a writer and parent who believes all relationships, including parent-child relationships, flourish under mutual respect, curiosity, kindness, and compassion. She lives in Michigan with her family where she is constantly being challenged to listen to, understand, and appreciate her teenagers’ points of view. You can reach her at monicamcguire100@gmail.com.