Beyond Attention: Why Executive Function May Be the Missing Piece in Understanding ADHD

For decades, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been understood primarily as a disorder of attention. The familiar symptoms, inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, have shaped how educators, parents, and even children themselves think about the condition.

But what if attention isn’t the real issue?

Increasingly, researchers are reframing ADHD as a disorder of executive function, the brain’s self-management system. Executive functions are the mental processes that allow us to plan, organize, regulate emotions, remember instructions, monitor our behaviour, and persist toward long-term goals. They are the skills that enable us not simply to know what to do, but to actually do it.

This shift in perspective has profound implications. If executive function lies at the heart of ADHD, then our goal moves beyond managing behaviour toward helping children develop the very skills that allow them to become increasingly independent.

This is the central message of Michael McLeod’s The Executive Function Playbook: Building Independence in Kids with ADHD. Drawing on neuroscience, educational practice, and years of clinical experience, McLeod argues that executive function, not attention, is the missing piece in understanding ADHD.

Whether or not one agrees with every recommendation in the book, its overarching message is both practical and hopeful: executive function skills can be strengthened. They develop through intentional practice, supportive relationships, meaningful challenges, and carefully designed learning experiences.

A Different Way of Understanding ADHD

Current estimates suggest that ADHD affects approximately one in nine children (Danielson et al., 2024) and about one in twenty-two adults (Kessler et al., 2006). Advances in neuroimaging have shown structural and functional differences in the brains of individuals with ADHD, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for planning, decision-making, working memory, emotional regulation, and impulse control (Arnsten, 2009).

These findings have helped move us beyond outdated assumptions that ADHD results from laziness or a lack of motivation.

Russell Barkley, one of the world’s leading ADHD researchers, has long argued that ADHD is fundamentally a developmental disorder of executive functioning. Rather than viewing ADHD simply as an inability to pay attention, Barkley describes it as a delay in the development of the brain’s management system. According to his research, executive function in children with ADHD may develop 20 to 45 percent more slowly than in their same-age peers, depending on the severity of the condition.

McLeod builds upon this framework by encouraging parents and educators to think in terms of a child’s “executive age.” A ten-year-old, for example, may possess executive skills more typical of a seven or of an eight-year-old. Recognizing this developmental difference encourages adults to adjust expectations while intentionally teaching the skills that will eventually lead to independence.

Importantly, this perspective shifts the conversation away from blame. Children are not choosing to struggle with organization, emotional regulation, or planning. Instead, they are learning skills that are still under construction.

Executive Function: The Brain’s Air Traffic Control System

Executive functions are often described as the brain’s “air traffic control system.” Just as an airport control tower coordinates multiple aircraft simultaneously, executive functions coordinate our thoughts, emotions, memories, and behaviours so that we can navigate everyday life successfully.

McLeod identifies four interconnected pillars of executive functioning:

Self-awareness – noticing what we are thinking, feeling, and doing.

Self-regulation – managing emotions, impulses, and behaviour.

Self-motivation – working toward future goals despite present distractions.

Self-evaluation – reflecting on our actions and learning from experience.

These abilities underpin successful learning. They influence how children begin tasks, stay focused, solve problems, work collaboratively, recover from setbacks, and develop resilience.

When executive function is delayed, the challenges extend far beyond paying attention in class. Children may struggle to remember multi-step instructions, organize their materials, monitor their behaviour, anticipate consequences, manage frustration, or complete tasks independently. These are not isolated weaknesses but interconnected expressions of the same developmental process.

The Invisible Skills Behind Executive Function

Beneath these four pillars lie two less visible but equally important capacities: nonverbal working memory and verbal working memory.

Nonverbal working memory allows us to create mental images and “mental movies.” We imagine what a completed project will look like before we begin. We picture ourselves succeeding, anticipate obstacles, and mentally rehearse future actions.

Verbal working memory is our internal dialogue. It is the quiet voice that reminds us of our goals, helps us manage emotions, and talks us through challenges. It is the voice that says, “First I’ll finish this assignment, then I’ll go outside,” or “Take a deep breath before you answer.”

For many children with ADHD, these internal systems are less developed.

A child may genuinely want to clean their bedroom but struggle to imagine what “clean” looks like. Another may know that homework comes before video games but find it difficult to hold the future reward in mind long enough to resist immediate gratification.

Similarly, many adults tell children to “stop and think.” Yet this phrase assumes that children possess the internal cognitive tools required to pause, reflect, and consider consequences. McLeod argues that many children with ADHD have not yet developed this internal “coach.” They often skip the “stop,” lack the “think,” and simply act.

Rather than repeatedly reminding children what they should do, adults can gradually help them build the internal dialogue that will eventually guide their own behaviour.

Looking Forward by Learning to Imagine

One of McLeod’s intriguing ideas is the importance of helping children create “mental movies.”

Our ability to imagine future events influences motivation, planning, emotional regulation, and delayed gratification. We make decisions based not only on what is happening now but also on what we can picture happening later.

Children with ADHD often have difficulty constructing these mental simulations. They may struggle to visualize the satisfaction of completing homework, the enjoyment of finishing sports practice, or the pride that comes from accomplishing a challenging task. Without a vivid picture of the future, immediate rewards naturally become more compelling than distant ones.

This understanding also helps explain why many children repeat mistakes. Episodic memory, the ability to recall personal experiences and use them to guide future behavior, depends partly upon our capacity to revisit past experiences mentally. Strengthening these mental representations can improve self-awareness, planning, and decision-making.

Simple classroom routines can help. Before beginning an activity, teachers might invite students to spend one quiet minute imagining what they expect to happen.

• What do you think today’s lesson will involve?
• What challenges might arise?
• How do you hope to feel when you finish?

At the end of the lesson, students reflect:

• What surprised you?
• What was easier than expected?
• What was harder?
• Did you achieve your goal?

McLeod reports that over several months, children’s predictions become increasingly realistic, reflecting growth in self-awareness and self-evaluation. Such routines help students develop the habit of thinking about their own thinking, a hallmark of executive functioning.

This article is based upon Marcia Bank’s reading of Michael McLeod’s The Executive Function Playbook: Building Independence in Kids with ADHD.