Executive planning explained

What is executive planning?

Executive planning is thinking ahead and working out the steps needed to reach a goal, as in planning an essay or a multi-step task. It draws on the other executive functions: keeping the goal in mind, holding back a first impulse and changing course when a step doesn't work. Like them, it develops a great deal through childhood.

How our test measures it

Our Block move task (Tower) asks the pupil to move blocks between towers one at a time, never putting a bigger block on a smaller one. Pupils aged 7 to 10 use three blocks, and pupils aged 11 to 16 use four. The score looks at the puzzles solved and the rule breaks. It's part of the Executive Functioning screener.

Implications (in class and at home)

In class, a pupil who finds planning harder may start a task without a plan, lose track of the steps in a longer piece of work, or struggle to break a big task into parts. At home, homework deadlines, projects and getting ready for the next day can be harder to organise.

Implications of a low score in our test

A low score on Block move suggests the pupil found it harder than most pupils their age to plan the steps of these puzzles. The planning score doesn't yet have its own reliability estimate, and the norms are first-generation, from 560 pupils in 13 schools, so treat it as one piece of evidence and look for the same pattern in class work. Scores are also sensitive to sleep, mood and motivation on the day. A screening result is not a diagnosis.

What helps

Teaching a pupil to turn a goal into a short, visible list of steps helps, and so does a planner, checklist or template, as long as someone shows them how and when to use it.