Why Students Have Difficulty Initiating

It is frustrating for all involved - teachers, parents, siblings, the dog, and even the student themselves - when there is still a blank page where an essay should have been started a whole hour ago. If you have a student or are a student who struggles with Executive Function, initiating is very difficult. It is hard to empathize with a student when they may feel very confident in the content, highly motivated to get the assignment done, and actually have the intellectual capabilities to get some awesome work accomplished. The question often heard by this student is: "well, if you know what to do, why isn't it getting done?"

Truth: Your child is NOT lazy! In fact, initiating for students who struggle with Executive Function are fighting the battle to begin work for each assignment, and sometimes for each step of the same assignment. Know this: your child WANTS to get started. But also know this: your child has trouble doing so. Here are some reasons why:
1. maybe the assignment is worded differently from what the teacher said,
2. maybe the assignment is formatted in a way that is distracting and confusing,
3. maybe the assignment is too big of a task and needs to be chunked into smaller, more manageable pieces but seems like a mountain of work,
4. maybe the assignment requires tools the student doesn't have with them,
5. maybe the assignment requires completion of a step that the student didn't realize needed to be done first,
6. maybe the wording of the actual assignment is unfamiliar and therefore doesn't feel doable,
7. maybe there are too many distractions in the room to get started,
8. maybe there are too many ideas or options to choose from, 
9. or maybe, the student has no idea where to actually begin.

What I Suggest: First of all, wow! That is a lot of thinking for one assignment. Imagine how much you would stall if you were in your child's brain! Now that we've empathized we've got to help your student get into action! Put your child in the driver's seat. Guide them to developing a procedure when approaching an assignment. This procedure should include guided questions to help ease the initiation process. Questions like: "what looks awkward of confusing about this assignment?", "what would be the first step to getting this done?" and "what do you think you'll need to complete this assignment?"

Reply to this post if you want a complete list of questions to guide your child in initiating tasks, assignments, and even chores!