Finding the Pause: Strengthening Response Inhibition in Children

As many schools approach spring break, students will have time to pause from their busy academic, personal, and extracurricular lives. This is a great opportunity to reset, plan for the upcoming weeks, and reorganize. Spring break can also serve as a meaningful time to reflect, set positive intentions, and find balance. However, reflective thinking shouldn't only happen during long school breaks. In fact, daily reflection can help children find moments of pause in their routines and strengthen executive function skills like self-control and response inhibition.

What is Response Inhibition?

Have you ever blurted out an answer or interrupted someone mid-sentence? You can thank your response inhibition for that. Response inhibition is the ability to control behaviors or responses to a task. Similar to a cause-and-effect relationship, it helps individuals react appropriately to different situations, stay focused, and resist impulsive behaviors. For some children, these skills develop naturally as they learn school rules and routines. However, others may benefit from intentional practice to strengthen these abilities.

Playing Games

Games that require critical thinking, such as chess, encourage children to take their time when making decisions rather than choosing the first move that comes to mind. Multiplayer games that involve turn-taking can also enhance response inhibition. Activities like Simon Says, Red Light/Green Light, Freeze Dance, board games, and card games all support the development of this skill.

Charts and Reminders

Visual cues can help children remember to think before responding until they develop this habit independently. These cues should be tailored to your child’s needs. For example, a solutions wheel can assist with problem-solving, while a THINK poster can encourage appropriate responses.

Avoiding Distracting Areas

Keeping workspaces clean and organized can limit distractions and help children stay focused on their tasks. A clutter-free environment also promotes a healthy homework routine, maximizing their attention and productivity.

Timers and Counters

Timers are useful for encouraging task inhibition, practicing skills within a set period, and minimizing distractions. Additionally, timers can help students regulate response inhibition by setting limits on off-topic discussions. Counters, or designated objects, can be used to regulate behaviors. For example, a child may receive three counters during a discussion, turning one over each time they speak. This method can help with turn-taking, staying in designated areas, and minimizing off-topic storytelling.

Positive Reinforcement

When a child independently controls their response, positive reinforcement encourages them to repeat that behavior. Recognizing their progress helps them reflect on their actions and continue improving.

Wait Time and Wait Periods

Providing wait time allows students to consider multiple responses rather than the first idea that comes to mind, which is especially beneficial for writing and speaking activities. It also strengthens listening skills by encouraging students to fully process what was asked. Wait periods—longer increments of time—can help children make thoughtful decisions, such as choosing a new hobby or extracurricular activity. These pauses can prevent impulsive commitments.

Social Scenarios

Practicing social scenarios allows children to reflect on behaviors, navigate social situations, and differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate responses. These exercises encourage them to think of alternative solutions and positively impact their social and emotional learning.

Conclusion

Response inhibition can be a challenging skill to develop without the right strategies to guide impulsive thoughts and behaviors. By incorporating these techniques at home, children will become better equipped to regulate their responses independently. Encouraging them to find moments of pause in their daily lives will make breaks even more enjoyable, with less to reorganize and catch up on!

Written by Ami Z.

Avoiding the Rush: Completing Homework with Intention

“Take your time”, “Check your work”, and “Read the directions” are phrases your child may hear as reminders to complete their work thoughtfully. For most students, these simple reminders may be all they need to complete their work with intention. However, students with executive function challenges may not have strong self-control skills, or response inhibition. This often results in impulses, such as rushing through work “just to get it done”. 

So, how can you help strengthen this skill at home? It is not uncommon for children to need a combination of strategies to improve executive functioning skills. Harvard College explains, “These functions are highly interrelated, and the successful application of executive function skills requires them to operate in coordination with each other” (Harvard College, 2024). Here are some strategies you can try to help your child with self-control during homework time.

Noise Canceling Headphones 

Noise cancelling headphones could benefit your child from getting distracted from loud noises. Sometimes playing music, including instrumentals, may give an additional level of noise protection. Additionally, it may become a habit for your child’s brain to engage meaningfully with their work when they wear headphones. 

Checklists and Rubrics

Checklists and rubrics give your child something to reference when analyzing their work. It can provide specific skills to check for, strategies such as what to do when they get stuck, or specific actions that need to be completed before finishing a task. When you use vague terms such as “Check your work”, it will not benefit your child if they do not understand WHAT to check. Provide explicit instructions, such as “Check your work for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling errors”. Giving them a checklist, or using writing rubrics, will help them understand the expectations and allow them to self-correct anything that does not meet the requirements. This will teach them HOW to check their work thoroughly. 

Time Management Strategies

Timers, goal setting, and time management with planned breaks can help children overcome the unknowns of work time. By choosing a specific amount of time students need to work for, there is a clear designated amount of focus and attention they will need to allocate to complete the task. You could give an amount of time (15 minute work time), or a quantity of work (5 math problems) before incorporating a break in between. Using a visual checklist during this time will be helpful so students can keep track of their progress as they work. Try having a conversation with them about the directions and steps needed to complete each activity prior to getting started- this can help them understand the amount of time and effort they will need to contribute for successful completion!

Structured Think-Time

Structured think time can be a great way to increase intent during work time. This gives students the opportunity to explore more than one topic, rather than choosing the first idea they had. This is especially helpful when engaging with the writing process, critical thinking activities, and multi-step math problems. Graphic organizers may also be beneficial during this time. Modeling and incorporating structured think-time will allow children to slow down and analyze different ideas to pick the best one for the assignment. 

Strategy Games

Strategy games are a fun and engaging way to build children’s self-control. The skill they will develop while playing these games can transfer into their work habits as well. It could be beneficial to include strategy games in their work time breaks! This may help slow their thinking down and can even be used as a warm-up practice. 

Every child will need different supports to strengthen their self-control. A good first step is to connect with your child’s classroom teacher to see what strategies they have tried implementing at school. Don’t be afraid to ask questions such as: What strategies have you tried? Were they successful? What didn’t work about it? How long did you try these strategies? How were they implemented? Responses to these questions can give you a better understanding of what to try at home. Environmental factors (large group setting vs independent homework time) may require different strategies for your child to be successful. Just remember that it is a process - it will take time and patience to see positive results.

Written by Ami Z.