Fall Break food for thought

In this Issue: article about college students and executive functioning

It’s Fall Break, so we will keep this one short in case you have your Deacs home and want to spend time with them 🙂

Longtime Daily Deac-ers know that I occasionally share articles about college student development. I ran across one about college students and executive functioning and thought you might enjoy; read it here.

There are a couple of quotes or takeaways I want to highlight:

“As teenagers and young adults, students start to figure out how they fit in to the world around them. For them to successfully navigate themselves in the world (thrive in jobs and relationships, and complete responsibilities), they need to know how to manage multiple parts of themselves.

In order to manage themselves, they must be able to cognitively process thoughts and execute actions to complete daily tasks. This ability to integrate all of life’s responsibilities with efficiency is determined by executive functioning….

As students practice strategies and begin to learn from their experiences, they gain the ability to self-direct [emphasis mine]. They make appropriate choices, set attainable goals and follow measurable action steps.”

I know at times some families have been frustrated at my advice to let your student take the lead, do the work, give the feedback, interact with the administrative office, etc. but *this* is the reason I give that advice: students gain the ability to self-direct when they practice these skills. And that ability to self-direct is the “foundation not only for their survival on campus, but for sustainable life success.”

Anyway, if you are interested, read the article, and I am always happy to hear your thoughts.