You’ve probably tried them all: color-coded planners, phone alerts, reward charts, breaking tasks into smaller steps, and countless apps promising to revolutionize your organization. Yet somehow, you’re still struggling with the same executive function challenges. Sound familiar?
If you’re neurodivergent, whether you have ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or simply a brain that works differently, you’ve likely discovered that traditional executive function strategies often fall short. But it’s not because you’re doing something wrong. The problem lies in how these strategies are designed.
Most executive function interventions are designed for neurotypical brains. They assume that everyone processes information, manages attention, and regulates emotions in similar ways. But neurodivergent brains operate with different strengths, challenges, and processing styles.
Consider the common advice to “use a planner.” For someone with ADHD, the planner might become another source of overwhelm rather than organization. For an autistic individual, rigid planning systems might increase anxiety when unexpected changes occur. For someone with dyslexia, traditional written planning methods might not align with their visual-spatial strengths.
Traditional approaches typically focus on external supports and behavioral modifications—essentially trying to patch over executive function difficulties without addressing their root causes.
What traditional strategies look like:
While these tools can provide temporary relief, they often fail to create lasting change because they don’t address the fundamental issue: difficulty understanding and internalizing abstract concepts that form the foundation of executive functioning.
Here’s what many professionals don’t realize: executive function challenges often stem from lack of clarity around abstract concepts like time, sequence, cause and effect, order, and responsibility.
For example, telling someone to “manage their time better” assumes they have a clear, internalized understanding of what time is and an accurate perception of the passage of time. But for many neurodivergent individuals, time remains an abstract, confusing concept. They might intellectually know that an hour has 60 minutes, but they lack the accurate experience of time that makes effective time management possible.
Similarly, consequences and rewards systems assume someone truly understands cause and effect relationships. Without this foundational understanding, external behaviour modification techniques often feel arbitrary and fail to create meaningful change.
Different Processing Styles: Neurodivergent brains often process information in unique ways. Visual thinkers might struggle with purely verbal instructions, while those with working memory challenges need different approaches than those with attention regulation difficulties.
Sensory Considerations: Many neurodivergent individuals have sensory processing differences that can impact executive functioning. Traditional strategies rarely account for how sensory overwhelm or seeking behaviors affect organization and planning abilities.
Motivation and Interest: Neurodivergent brains often have different motivation patterns. What works as a reward or consequence for neurotypical individuals might not resonate with someone whose brain operates differently.
Masking and Compensation: Many neurodivergent individuals become skilled at masking their difficulties or developing elaborate compensation strategies. Traditional approaches might reinforce these exhausting patterns rather than addressing underlying challenges.
Perhaps most importantly, traditional executive function strategies often increase rather than decrease mental load. When you’re constantly relying on external systems, reminder alerts, and complex organizational schemes, you’re using enormous amounts of mental energy that could be directed elsewhere.
Many neurodivergent individuals report feeling exhausted by the end of the day, not from their actual work or activities, but from the constant effort required to navigate systems that don’t match how their brains naturally function.
Instead of more external supports and behavioral modifications, neurodivergent brains often need:
Conceptual Understanding: Deep, internalized understanding of specific concepts that support executive functioning, rather than surface-level strategies.
Individualized Approaches: Solutions that work with, rather than against, natural processing styles and strengths.
Foundation Building: Addressing root causes rather than managing symptoms.
Simple self-regulation tools: Effective techniques that are quick and easy to use in any situation to ensure focus, stress management and energy regulation.
Sustainable Strategies: Approaches that reduce rather than increase mental load over time that remain meaningful and useable.
The Davis Concepts for Life Program provides one-on-one support and was developed specifically to address these needs, using hands-on learning techniques that help individuals truly understand and internalize the concepts that support strong executive functioning.
If you’ve been frustrated by traditional executive function strategies, know that it’s not a reflection of your effort or ability. You simply need an approach that’s designed for how your brain actually works.
The Davis Concepts for Life Workshop supports parents, professionals, teachers, and support workers—to facilitate this transformation process for others. It is also life changing for individuals to attend who are struggling with executive function. Whether you’re supporting someone you care about or seeking tools for your own executive function challenges, by the end of this workshop you’ll have the skills to guide someone through nearly 50 key concepts and 3 simple self-regulation tools that form the foundation of strong executive functioning.
Join us for upcoming workshops where you’ll learn why the Davis Method succeeds where traditional approaches often fall short:
September 22-26, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Central Time (US) Discover how to build lasting executive function skills from the ground up. Register now →
October 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 10:30 AM – 6:30 PM NZ / 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM AET Perfect for participants in Australia and New Zealand. Register now →
In our final post of this series, we’ll explore exactly how the Davis Method creates lasting change by addressing the foundational concepts that support strong executive functioning—and why this approach is revolutionizing how we understand and support neurodivergent brains.