Rethink task initiation challenges with tweens and teens
Why do some people wash the dishes right away, but others never get around to it? Why are some students glued to their cell phone screens and require multiple prompts to begin classwork? The answer is partly due to biological traits and partly due to learning experiences (Dawson & Guare, 2012, 2018). Since procrastination (the reverse of task initiation) is one of the toughest human behaviors to change, there’s value to rethinking how we support tweens and teens in this critical area.
Task initiation is an executive function skill. When we’re born, we all have executive function skill potential, but we have to develop into it through observing others, trying out actions, and revising when we don’t succeed. We know preadolescents’ and adolescents’ strategic brain networks are still developing. They don’t reliably make productive decisions about their actions and may display passive “spectator behavior.” Unsurprisingly, they often don’t want to hear us bring it up!
Executive function is partially inherited, so your students have relative strengths and weaknesses based on their parents’ strengths and weaknesses. When you ask a parent to help their child with an executive function skill, there is a decent chance the parent has the same challenge. It’s important to frame procrastination not as willfulness, but as a possible missing executive function skill before partnering with parents. There’s a chance that the adult has experienced the same challenge in their own life and work.
How do we know a student has a task initiation challenge? You can record data on how long the student takes to begin a task, how frequently this impacts their academic outcomes, and look for a pattern. We all know overcoming procrastination can be tough when we’re faced with a task we don’t enjoy, but some people have trouble starting most tasks. That’s a task initiation challenge.
To effectively address task initiation, avoid characterizing failure to begin a task as willfulness, noncompliance, or disinterest. Closely intertwined with many people’s procrastination is an emotional component of mood regulation–to try to relieve stress and make yourself feel good right now, you avoid the task that is frustrating or overwhelming you (Yang, 2021). Adopting a coaching approach to task initiation challenges flips the script. It replaces prompting and “checking” on whether students are doing a skill with specially designed instruction on how to initiate and follow through on a task.
This is an enormous mindset shift for many of us as educators and family members. Replacing prompting with coaching might look like mindfulness training for mood regulation (Rad et al, 2023), self-talk to reframe tasks, or visualizing a different future self who has been successful. When we coach executive function skills, the adult role is to help students set realistic goals for themselves, plan, organize, analyze tasks, and develop effective habits. Perhaps the most important role is to be a supporter and cheerleader (Dawson & Guare, 2018).
If task initiation is the biggest hurdle facing one of your students, consider a coaching approach.
References
Dawson, P., & Guare, P. (2012). Coaching students with executive skills deficits. Guilford Press.
Dawson, P., & Guare, P. (2018). Executive skills in children and adolescents: A practical guide to assessment and intervention. Guilford Press.
Rad, H., Samadi, S., Sirois, F., & Goodarzi, H. (2023). Mindfulness intervention for academic procrastination: A randomized control trial. Learning & Individual Differences (101). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2022.102244
Yang, S. (2021). The relationship between procrastination and emotions [Doctoral dissertation, University of Sheffield]. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/30350/
For more information, contact Susanne Croasdaile, (sscroasdaile@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.
Categories Inclusive Practices