Every time I give a session on executive functioning, I have clinicians and teachers ask me the same thing:

“How can I motivate students who don’t seem to care or don’t want to try new things?”

Or something like “How can I convince students why this (insert task) is going to be important to them in the future?”

The short answer is that you don’t “convince” them of anything. At least not in the moment. 

Instead, you create the experiences and opportunities that are going to help the student acquire the skills, experience the consequences, and develop the confidence to deal with uncertainty/unfamiliar situations. 

When students appear resistant to try things, or seem to “not learn from past mistakes”, this can often be tied to weak episodic memory. 

Episodic memory—the ability to see a mental picture of a past event, allows students to think back on past experiences and use them to prepare for the future. 

When you struggle to do this, it’s difficult to recall past mistakes or feedback in the moment. 

It’s also difficult to think back on past experiences when you might have done something well, which may make you feel less prepared for tasks that are challenging or less familiar. 

This may cause nervousness or resistance toward difficult tasks if you can’t “see” back into the past (episode memory) or think into the future to know what you should be doing now (future pacing). 

Unfortunately, on the surface, this may look like defiance, apathy, or lack of motivation. 

That’s why in fourth episode in my “Five Skills to Create Your Executive Functioning Intervention Framework”, I discuss the fourth skill: Episodic Memory 

What I’ll uncover in this episode:

✅ The critical role episodic memory plays in executive functioning: applying prior knowledge, anticipating consequences, and adjusting behavior.

✅ How difficulties with episodic memory impact a student’s confidence and willingness to try new things, or their persistence with challenging tasks. 

✅ Why episodic memory interacts with other executive functioning skills, including future pacing, time perception, and self-talk.

In this episode, I mentioned my free training for school leaders who want to create a research-based executive functioning implementation plan for their school teams. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership