Executive Function

Observation shows how a difficulty looks in class. This screening assessment shows what sits behind it, so you can target support and make clearer referral decisions.

Book a call

See a sample report

Illustration: pupils working on laptops in Talamo’s starry test world with the Talamo cat, beside the Block move task screen and Arthur Brown’s sample result, ‘Executive function challenges’.

Age range

7–16

Years 2 to 12

Time

35–45 mins

Can be split across sittings

Format

Online, in school

Whole class, small group or one pupil

Who runs it

A teacher or TA

No specialist qualification needed

What you get

Executive function profile

Plus a challenges indicator, Level of Need and next steps

What it measures

Six areas, one clear profile

Executive functions are the thinking skills that help a pupil stay on task, hold back a hasty response, keep instructions in mind, switch approach and plan ahead. They develop a great deal through childhood. Rather than giving a single verdict, the assessment shows where in a pupil’s profile any difficulty is concentrated.

Executive function

Sustained attention

Staying focused and responding consistently through a long, repetitive task. It’s what helps a pupil follow an extended explanation or stick with a long piece of independent work.

Tasks:

Focus

Executive function

Inhibitory control

Holding back a quick response when it isn’t the right one, like pausing to check before answering or handing in work.

Tasks:

Focus

Left or right

Executive function

Cognitive flexibility

Switching between rules, such as matching by colour and then by shape, or trying another approach when the first one stalls.

Tasks:

Colours & Shapes

Executive function

Executive planning

Thinking ahead and working out the steps needed to reach a goal, as in planning an essay or a multi-step task.

Tasks:

Block move

Executive function

Working memory

Holding information in mind while doing something with it, such as following a set of instructions.

Tasks:

Word memory

Memory

Context

Processing speed

How quickly a pupil takes in simple information and responds. It gives useful context, but it isn’t an executive function, so it doesn’t feed the challenges indicator.

Tasks:

Shape search

Numbers

What your pupils will do

Eight short tasks

Each task has a friendly name and feels more like a game than a test.

Introduction video

Spoken instructions

Practice with feedback

Resume later

How a session starts

Talamo test screen: ‘Enter your code’ with an 8-character Login ID typed into the boxes, on the starry test background.

Pupils type their own 8‑character Login ID

Talamo test screen: a welcome card with the Talamo character that says ‘Hi Emily, when you’re ready, let’s go!’ above a Start button.

They press Start when they’re ready

Talamo test screen: three tiles to choose from, Skills (0 of 9 complete), Numbers (0 of 15) and Focus (0 of 8, selected), above a Start button.

They choose Focus, the name pupils see for this assessment

Task by task

Each card shows the name pupils see, the task’s formal name and the skill it measures. The first task is also called Focus, the name pupils see for the whole assessment.

Focus
SART
Numbers flash on screen. The pupil presses the spacebar for every number except 3, and holds back on 3.
Sustained attention and inhibitory control
Left or right
Flanker
Says which way the middle fish is pointing while the fish around it point the same or the opposite way. This task is timed.
Inhibitory control
Colours & Shapes
Task Switching
Sees a coloured shape and is told to match it by colour or by shape, switching between the two rules.
Cognitive flexibility
Block move
Tower
Moves blocks between towers one at a time, never putting a bigger block on a smaller one. Ages 7 to 10 use three blocks; ages 11 to 16 use four.
Executive planning
Word memory
Verbal Attention
Hears a list of words, then an instruction to pick out particular ones from the sequence.
Working memory
Memory
Numbers Reversed
Hears a string of numbers and types them backwards.
Working memory
Shape search
Symbol Search
Sees two target shapes, then a row of shapes, and says whether either target is in the row. This task is timed.
Processing speed
Numbers
Number Pattern Matching
Scans a row of numbers and selects the ones that appear twice. This task is timed.
Processing speed

Focus

SART

Numbers flash on screen. The pupil presses the spacebar for every number except 3, and holds back on 3.

Sustained attention · Inhibitory control

Left or right

Flanker

Says which way the middle fish is pointing while the fish around it point the same or the opposite way. This task is timed.

Inhibitory control

Colours & Shapes

Task Switching

Sees a coloured shape and is told to match it by colour or by shape, switching between the two rules.

Cognitive flexibility

Block move

Tower

Moves blocks between towers one at a time, never putting a bigger block on a smaller one. Ages 7 to 10 use three blocks; ages 11 to 16 use four.

Executive planning

Word memory

Verbal Attention

Hears a list of words, then an instruction to pick out particular ones from the sequence.

Working memory

Memory

Numbers Reversed

Hears a string of numbers and types them backwards.

Working memory

Shape search

Symbol Search

Sees two target shapes, then a row of shapes, and says whether either target is in the row. This task is timed.

Processing speed

Numbers

Number Pattern Matching

Scans a row of numbers and selects the ones that appear twice. This task is timed.

Processing speed

See what a finished report looks like

One report per pupil, with next steps for school and home.

See inside a report

Questions are scored without retries, and tasks run in a fixed order. Memory and Numbers are shared with other Talamo assessments, so a pupil who completed them in the last three months doesn’t repeat them.

Requirements

What you need to run it

Check these six things before the first session.

Laptop or desktop, with headphones

Every task opens with spoken instructions, so each pupil needs their own headphones.

Chrome browser (preferred)

The assessment runs online in the browser, at test.talamo.co.uk.

Keyboard and mouse or trackpad

Both are required. iPads can be used only with an attached keyboard.

A Login ID for each pupil

Pupils log in with their own Login ID, which is 8 characters long.

Sound on, Talamo not blocked

Browser audio must be on, and school filtering must not block Talamo domains.

Smaller groups for some pupils

Smaller groups or extra support help younger pupils, EAL learners and pupils with high needs.

Requirements

What you need to run it

Check these six things before the first session.

Laptop or desktop, with headphones

Every task opens with spoken instructions, so each pupil needs their own headphones.

Chrome browser (preferred)

The assessment runs online in the browser, at test.talamo.co.uk.

Keyboard and mouse or trackpad

Both are required. iPads can be used only with an attached keyboard.

A Login ID for each pupil

Pupils log in with their own Login ID, which is 8 characters long.

Sound on, Talamo not blocked

Browser audio must be on, and school filtering must not block Talamo domains.

Smaller groups for some pupils

Smaller groups or extra support help younger pupils, EAL learners and pupils with high needs.

Requirements

What you need to run it

Check these six things before the first session.

Laptop or desktop, with headphones

Every task opens with spoken instructions, so each pupil needs their own headphones.

Chrome browser (preferred)

The assessment runs online in the browser, at test.talamo.co.uk.

Keyboard and mouse or trackpad

Both are required. iPads can be used only with an attached keyboard.

A Login ID for each pupil

Pupils log in with their own Login ID, which is 8 characters long.

Sound on, Talamo not blocked

Browser audio must be on, and school filtering must not block Talamo domains.

Smaller groups for some pupils

Smaller groups or extra support help younger pupils, EAL learners and pupils with high needs.

Planning your first session?

Talk it through with our team, or send us a question about devices and set‑up.

Book a call

Ask a question

What you get

A report you can act on

Each pupil’s report brings together their executive function profile, challenges indicator, Level of Need and support recommendations, all in plain English.

How to support Arthur
For subject teachers. Practical strategies for secondary lessons.
Add brief response checks to longer teaching
Arthur’s lower attention score suggests clear checkpoints may help.
Pause at one or two natural points in a longer explanation and ask Arthur to recall or apply one key idea.
Build in one final check
Arthur’s lower inhibitory-control score suggests a pause before responding may help.
Before Arthur hands in work, use one check linked to the task, such as whether every part of a question has been answered.
Build thinking time into harder tasks
Arthur’s lower processing speed may make demanding tasks take longer.
Keep the question visible and let Arthur make a brief note before responding.

How to support Arthur
For subject teachers.
Add brief response checks
His lower attention score suggests checkpoints may help.
Pause once or twice in a long explanation to check one key idea.
Build in one final check
His lower inhibitory-control score suggests a pause may help.
One check linked to the task before work is handed in.

Inside an Executive Function report

Use the arrows to look through four parts of the sample report of Arthur Brown, a fictional secondary pupil.

Insights

His level of need and executive function result, each explained in a few plain sentences.

Results

His scores in six areas on one chart, compared with pupils of the same age.

Scores

Each standard score with its score rank, percentile rank and 95% confidence interval.

How to support

Practical next steps matched to his profile and year group. Use the tabs to switch between the classroom, extra support and home.

See Arthur’s full report (PDF)

The challenges indicator

One of three outcomes, set by a fixed rule across the five executive function areas, so the same profile always gives the same result. It describes measured performance and never uses diagnostic labels.

No challenges

The profile doesn’t meet the threshold. Individual areas can still show relative weaknesses worth attention, and the profile shows where.

Challenges

One area is markedly below the typical range for the pupil’s age, or there’s a broader pattern of below-average results across several areas. The report names the areas driving the result.

Inconclusive

Too much of the profile has unusual results to score reliably.

Inconclusive never means no challenges. A retest is recommended.

Level of Need

How much support a pupil may need overall. It draws on every Talamo assessment they complete, so it becomes better grounded as they take more.

Low

Ordinary classroom teaching is enough.

Medium

Targeted support in one area.

High

Structured support across more than one area.

Very high

Intensive support; specialist involvement is worth considering.

Built into every report

Checked by a person

Every report is reviewed by Talamo before release, normally within 48 hours.

Unusual results flagged

A score far outside the typical range prompts a review, not a verdict. Check supervision, access needs and device issues before arranging a retest.

Pupil data kept private

The AI that drafts the written explanation in each report sees pseudonymised scores and context only, never a pupil’s name or other identifying details. Pupil data is stored in the UK.

Sample reports

See an Executive Function report

Two fictional pupils with very different results. Emily (primary) has no executive function challenges, though her working memory and processing speed are low. Arthur (secondary) has challenges driven by attention, inhibitory control and working memory. Both reports end with support for the classroom, the SENCo and home.

See Emily’s report (primary, PDF)

See Arthur’s report (secondary, PDF)

See all sample reports

Pages from Talamo’s sample Executive Function report for Emily Hargreaves, a fictional primary pupil: the cover and her executive functioning results chart.

The evidence behind it

Developed in staged research with UK schools: a pilot, task refinement, then standardisation. The figures below come from our Executive Function technical documentation (September 2026).

560

pupils aged 7 to 16, in 13 schools across England, make up the current norms (spring 2026).

0.84–0.98

reliability for the ten task measures tested so far (1.0 would mean perfectly consistent), from the pilot study.

About 8%

of pupils in the standardisation study were flagged for challenges. The threshold was set with the expected rate of marked difficulty in mind.

Built on established tasks

Digital versions of extensively researched tasks, including the Sustained Attention to Response Task, the Eriksen flanker task, rule-switching and tower planning. Numbers Reversed and Verbal Attention are adapted from the Woodcock-Johnson IV, developed in partnership with its publisher, Riverside Insights.

Refined on pilot evidence

Nine tasks were piloted with 238 pupils in 14 schools between January and March 2026. Two were replaced on that evidence: Flanker, for example, replaced a Stroop task whose response times varied too much to interpret. A task keeps its place only while the data supports it.

Read about our research

Want more technical detail? Ask us and we’ll share it.

Good to know

What screening can and can’t tell you

Screening gives you an evidence-based starting point. Read results alongside classroom work, your own observations and the conditions on the day.

Performance, not behaviour

The assessment measures how a pupil performs on structured tasks, which can differ from how they manage attention and self‑regulation in class. Both kinds of evidence matter.

A snapshot on the day

Executive function performance is sensitive to sleep, mood and motivation. If a result surprises you, talk it through with the pupil, and consider a retest where results are unusual or inconclusive.

Low scores everywhere

Low scores across every area, including processing speed, are more consistent with general learning difficulty than with a specific executive function profile.

Early norms and reliability

The norms come from a first standardisation study of 560 pupils, almost all in state comprehensive schools. An update using a larger cohort is planned, and every report records the norm version it used. Two of the scores, from Block move and Left or right, don’t yet have their own reliability estimates.

The assessment also doesn’t track progress over time or measure response to intervention, so keep using your own monitoring to see whether support is working.