Executive Functioning and Dyslexia

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Now that the novelty of the new school year has worn off—or more like burned off the minute your child stepped into the classroom—the overwhelming reality of tests, grades, projects, and after-school activities may have made you and your child question your sanity more than once.

Many families experience late-night tears trying to figure out how everything will get done without falling behind academically or missing out on extracurriculars. Unfortunately, this is a very common struggle. The solution? Time management. But, how can children learn this essential skill when most schools don’t explicitly teach it—or assume students already know how to manage their time?

This is where understanding executive functioning and using effective tools and strategies can turn those stressed-out tears into the calm confidence of a child who no longer feels overwhelmed by the demands of daily life.

What Is Executive Functioning?

Executive functioning refers to the set of mental processes that help people plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. These skills are primarily managed by the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking and self-regulation.

There are three core components of executive functioning, according to Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child:

• Working memory – the ability to hold and manipulate information in mind for short periods.
• Cognitive flexibility – the capacity to shift attention or adapt to new situations.
• Inhibitory control – the ability to think before acting and resist impulsive responses.

In the classroom, students who struggle with executive functioning often have difficulty organizing their materials, following multi-step directions, managing time, or transitioning smoothly between tasks. These challenges can cause frustration and can, over time, impact both academic performance and emotional well-being.

What Does This Mean for Students With Dyslexia?

For students with dyslexia, executive functioning challenges can be more pronounced—not because dyslexia directly causes poor executive skills, but because both involve brain regions that coordinate processing speed, attention, and working memory.

Neuroscientific studies show that dyslexia primarily affects the left-hemisphere language network, while executive functions are supported by networks involving the prefrontal cortex. However, these systems are interconnected. Therefore, when a child struggles to decode or process language efficiently, it can tax their working memory and attention—making it harder to plan, organize, and complete tasks.

This means that directions with multiple steps, note-taking while listening, and multitasking in class can quickly feel overwhelming. These challenges can amplify the difficulties already present with reading and writing, leaving children feeling frustrated and defeated.

However, with targeted strategies and structured support, students can learn to manage these challenges. Think of it as turning a steep, exhausting climb into a manageable hike—one step at a time.

Using an Executive Functioning Organizer

One of the students I tutor has a jam-packed schedule—piles of homework, tests, and projects in every subject, along with one or two extracurricular activities each weeknight. There were many evenings when she felt so overwhelmed that she broke down at the kitchen table, feeling helpless and defeated.

That’s where I stepped in.

After assessing her strengths and weaknesses, I introduced an executive functioning tool that transformed how she approached her workload: the Get Ready, Do, Done organizer.

For those unfamiliar, the Get Ready–Do–Done model, developed by Sarah Ward and Kristen Jacobsen, is a structured visual framework that helps students plan, start, and complete tasks effectively. It breaks an assignment into three stages:

• Get Ready: Define the goal, identify materials, and plan the steps.
• Do: Follow the plan and carry out the steps.
• Done: Review the outcome—did it meet the goal? What worked and what didn’t?

This structured method promotes metacognition (thinking about one’s own thinking), self-regulation, and independence. By making each stage visible and concrete, students can reduce cognitive overload and build more effective study habits.

Final Thoughts

After implementing this organizer, my student’s stress and anxiety surrounding schoolwork and activities decreased noticeably. While it’s not a cure-all, she now feels more confident and capable—and her grades reflect that progress.

Each week, we review her assignments and activities together using the organizer, and she updates it throughout the week as things change.

In conclusion, children with dyslexia may face additional challenges with executive functioning and information processing, but these hurdles are not insurmountable. With the right strategies, structure, and support, those struggles can be managed—and eventually, mastered.

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