Executive Functioning in Gifted Children: Why Being Smart Doesn’t Make Planning Easy

Executive functions help children get things done. They play a role in planning, getting started on a task, staying focused, managing frustration, and figuring out what to do when the first approach doesn’t work. You can think of them as the conductor of an orchestra. A child may have plenty of knowledge and great ideas, but those abilities still need to work together at the right time.¹ ²

In gifted children, executive functions do not simply develop or work better because a child is highly intelligent. A student may understand a complex problem incredibly quickly but still have no idea where to begin. Or they may know exactly what a finished project should look like, yet struggle to break it down into manageable steps.

Being highly intelligent does not automatically make planning, organizing, and persevering easy.

What are executive functions?

Children use executive functions throughout the school day. Imagine a student is asked to create a presentation. They need to figure out what they need, gather information, make choices, get started, stay focused, adjust their plan when something doesn’t work, and finish on time. That requires several different executive function skills, including:

• holding information in mind while using it;
• pausing to think before acting;
• staying focused on a task;
• changing your approach when something isn’t working;
• breaking a large task into smaller, manageable steps;
• actually getting started;
• managing frustration;
• reflecting on how your approach worked.

Researchers use different models to describe executive functions. Working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility are often considered core executive functions.¹ ² For me, the most useful question is what these skills look like in everyday life: What does a child need to turn an idea into action, and into learning?

Executive functions and gifted children: What does the research tell us?

You may hear that gifted children tend to have weaker executive functions, but research does not provide clear evidence for such a broad claim. Some studies find that gifted children perform better on certain tasks, while others find little or no difference.³ ⁴

What this tells us is that there is no single executive function profile that fits every gifted child. One student may find planning easy but struggle to keep going when something doesn’t work right away. Another may be able to focus deeply for a long time but feel overwhelmed when an assignment involves too many different steps. And another may need support in a completely different area.

That is why I find this question much more useful: What can this child already do well, and what do they still need to learn?

What happens when learning has always come easily?

This is an important question when we think about gifted and high-ability students. Imagine a student who has rarely needed to study for a test in elementary school. They usually know the answers, finish their work quickly, and then have plenty of time left. Now imagine that same student finally encounters an assignment that is genuinely difficult. Suddenly, they need to make a plan, explore different possibilities, try again when something doesn’t work, ask for help, and keep going even when they are unsure whether their approach will succeed. Those are very different learning experiences.

It may seem logical that children who experience little challenge also have fewer opportunities to practice these skills. But we need to be careful not to make the evidence say more than it does. Research does not give us enough support to simply conclude that a lack of challenge causes weaker executive functions. What we can say is that appropriate challenge gives children opportunities to practice skills such as planning, choosing strategies, adjusting their approach, and persevering when learning becomes difficult. That is why challenge matters—not simply because a child can handle harder math problems or more complex assignments, but because every child deserves opportunities to truly learn at school.

Which executive function skills are involved?

How can you help children develop executive function skills?

Metacognition, self-regulation, and executive functions are closely connected, but they are not exactly the same. Research shows that thinking about and managing your own learning is an important part of learning itself.⁵ ⁶ After all, a student doesn’t just need to discover the right answer. It is just as important to understand how they got there.

Executive function skills are not developed by completing a worksheet. Many of these skills actually come into play when children are given a meaningful challenge that requires them to think. For example, when they need to:

• come up with their own approach;
• explore different solutions;
• make choices;
• collaborate;
• organize information;
• realize that their first idea doesn’t work;
• try again;
• explain why they chose a particular solution.
  

As an educator, you can make this thinking process more visible by asking questions such as:

• What are you trying to achieve?

• How could you get started?

• What options do you see?

• Why are you choosing this approach?

• Is your approach still working?

• What could you change?

• What did you discover?

The great thing is that the answer itself doesn’t always have to be the most important part.

It doesn’t have to be “right” the first time

Many activities in The Curious Mind Expedition’s lesson programs don’t have just one correct answer. They are about exploring, experiencing, and discovering. The focus is often on the learning process rather than the final answer or product. One of the most interesting questions might be: How did you come up with that idea? This shifts the focus from Did you get it right? to What happens while you’re thinking and learning? And that is exactly where children become curious about their own thinking. Not just: What do I know? But also: How do I think? What do I do when I don’t know something? What strategy am I using? What can I try when my first idea doesn’t work? Those moments when the process gets a little stuck can become valuable learning opportunities.

Even a child who learns quickly still has something to learn

A cognitively advanced child does not automatically need more work. Nor does that child automatically struggle with executive function skills. But just like any other child, they need learning goals that match what they still need to develop. Sometimes the right challenge is more difficult content. Sometimes it is an open-ended problem with multiple possible solutions. Sometimes it is collaboration. And sometimes the real challenge lies in planning, getting started, persevering, or reflecting on their own approach.

That is why The Curious Mind Expedition’s lesson programs focus on more than knowledge alone. Children are challenged to think, explore, collaborate, make choices, and reflect. The goal is not to tell them how to think, but to help them discover how their own thinking and learning work.

References

1. Jurado, M. B. & Rosselli, M. (2007). The elusive nature of executive functions: A review of our current understanding. Neuropsychology Review, 17(3), 213–233.
2. Diamond, A. (2013). Executive Functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168.
3. Bucaille, A. et al. (2023). Intelligence and Executive Functions: A Comprehensive Assessment of Intellectually Gifted Children. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 38(7), 1035–1046.
4. Kuznetsova, E. et al. (2024). Giftedness identification and cognitive, physiological and psychological characteristics of gifted children: a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1411981.
5. Dörrenbächer-Ulrich, L. & Bregulla, M. (2024). The Relationship Between Self-Regulated Learning and Executive Functions—a Systematic Review. Educational Psychology Review, 36.
6. Dörrenbächer-Ulrich, L., Dilhuit, S. & Perels, F. (2024). Investigating the relationship between self-regulated learning, metacognition, and executive functions by focusing on academic transition phases: a systematic review. Current Psychology, 43, 16045–16072.

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