Executive Function Across Autism, ADHD and Learning Differences
Executive function challenges are common in autism, ADHD and learning differences, and in many students with no diagnosis at all. This module looks at how those challenges compare across conditions, why supports should match needs rather than labels, and how to avoid common misreadings of executive function struggles.
The module has two parts. Each part has a short reading followed by practice activities built around real classroom moments. Work through the sections in order; your progress is saved as you go. Plan on about 30 minutes, including the video.
- Describe executive function challenges common in ADHD and autism
- Explain what recent research says about overlap across conditions
- Recognize how executive function needs vary between students and from day to day
- Plan supports based on needs, not labels
- Avoid common misreadings of executive function struggles
Watch first: Executive Function Across Autism, ADHD and Learning Differences (8 min)
Watch the overview, then work through the readings and activities below.
Similar Delays, Different Students
In ADHD, executive function challenges often show up as trouble waiting, forgetting steps or materials, starting and finishing long tasks, and underestimating time. Many autistic students have challenges with flexibility (changes, transitions, new rules) and with planning multi-step work, and many also have attention and inhibition challenges like those seen in ADHD.
A 2024 meta-analysis in Nature Human Behaviour pulled together 180 studies across 45 years that compared executive function in children with two or more neurodevelopmental conditions. It found similar executive function delays across most conditions, including ADHD, autism, communication disorders and specific learning disorders, with few differences between diagnoses.
Read the University of Sydney summary of the study. Then ask yourself what this means for planning supports in a classroom where some students have a diagnosis and many don’t.
Open the University of Sydney summary →- Which conditions were compared
- How similar the executive function delays were
- Why research and support have been siloed by diagnosis
- Why shared supports make sense
What Teachers Should Know About Labels and Needs
Keep these ideas in mind when you plan supports.
Support needs, not labels.
Two students with the same diagnosis can need very different supports, and two students with different diagnoses can need the same one.
Many students have no diagnosis.
Executive function needs show up in students who have never been evaluated, and in students with learning differences.
Learning differences add load.
Working memory affects reading comprehension and math facts; planning affects writing; slow processing can look like poor attention.
Strengths are part of the picture.
Deep focus on interests, strong memory for facts and creative problem-solving are common strengths.
Maya, an autistic fifth grader, gets very upset when the schedule changes without warning. Leo, who has ADHD, often stands up after a lesson and asks, “What do we do now?”
A colleague suggests separate plans for each student because “autism and ADHD need different strategies.”
You post a visual schedule and point to it at each transition.
How will you know if it’s working?
Which statement best summarizes the 2024 meta-analysis of executive function across neurodevelopmental conditions?
Reveal the Best Answer
For each statement, choose Accurate or Inaccurate, then check your answers.
1. Students with the same diagnosis always need the same supports.
2. Many students with executive function needs have no diagnosis.
3. Working memory challenges can affect reading comprehension.
4. A student’s strengths are irrelevant to executive function supports.
Looking Under the Behavior
Executive function struggles are easy to misread. A student who doesn’t start may look lazy when starting is the hard part. A student who refuses at transitions may look defiant when flexibility or anxiety about change is the issue. A student who “doesn’t care about grades” may simply have lost track of what is due.
Variability is part of the picture. Good days and hard days are common, and performance drops with stress, fatigue and sensory load. Doing something once doesn’t prove a student can always do it. Anxiety and executive function also feed each other: worry uses up working memory, and repeated struggles can create worry.
Work through the first sections of the IRIS Center module on executive functions (Part 1). Focus on how executive function challenges affect students’ learning and behavior.
Open the IRIS Executive Functions (Part 1) module →- How executive function challenges affect learning
- Why struggles are often misread as motivation
- How anxiety and stress affect performance
- Why patterns matter more than single days
Common Misreadings
What a behavior looks like isn’t always what it is.
“Lazy or unmotivated”
May be trouble starting or sustaining work, especially on long or unclear tasks.
“Defiant during transitions”
May be low flexibility or anxiety about change.
“Doesn’t care about grades”
May be lost assignments, no plan or no sense of what is due.
“He did it yesterday, so he can do it.”
Performance varies with stress, sleep and sensory load.
Ava, a seventh grader, finished her whole essay in class on Monday. On Wednesday she sat for 20 minutes without writing anything and then put her head down.
A colleague says, “She did it Monday, so we know she can. She’s choosing not to today.” Wednesday was the day after a school dance, and the class had a substitute in the morning.
You start jotting a quick note on hard and good days for three weeks.
What might you add to support Ava on hard days?
Which statement about anxiety and executive function is most accurate?
Reveal the Best Answer
For each statement, choose Accurate or Inaccurate, then check your answers.
1. A student who did a task once can always do it.
2. Refusal at transitions may reflect low flexibility or anxiety about change.
3. Many behavior incidents happen at high-demand moments like transitions.
4. Missing assignments always mean a student doesn’t care.
What to carry into Module 3
- Executive function challenges are common in ADHD, autism and learning differences.
- Research shows similar delays across many conditions.
- Support needs, not labels.
- Look under the behavior for the executive function skill involved.
References
- Sadozai, A. K., et al. (2024). Executive function in children with neurodevelopmental conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nature Human Behaviour, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02000-9
- University of Sydney. (2024, October 21). What are executive function delays? Research shows they’re similar in ADHD and autism. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2024/10/21/what-are-executive-function-delays-research-shows-they-re-similar-in-adhd-and-autism.html
- IRIS Center. (n.d.). Executive functions (Part 1): Understanding why some students struggle. Vanderbilt University. https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/ef1/
- Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750