Free EF assessment shared

An executive-function worksheet shared by ADHD coach Cena Block offers a free way to flag where a student is struggling with planning, focus, time, and emotional control before support plans are built. (x.com) Executive function is the brain’s management system: the skills used to plan, focus attention, switch tasks, and control impulses. Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child describes those skills as an “air traffic control system” for learning and daily life. (developingchild.harvard.edu) Block’s site says she is the founder and chief executive of Sane Spaces, launched the business in 2008, and created the Time and Space Style Inventory in 2014. Her coaching work focuses on adults and high performers with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and executive-function challenges. (sanespaces.com) On her site, Block has described executive-function skills as the processes that help people “manage, plan, and regulate” behavior to reach goals. In a 2023 post, she listed focus, emotional regulation, and time management among the areas commonly disrupted by Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. (sanespaces.com) That framing fits how schools and clinicians already talk about these skills. The American Academy of Pediatrics says Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder evaluations should include a comprehensive assessment of functioning and behavior, not just a quick symptom check. (aap.org) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no single test to diagnose Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and other issues including anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and learning disabilities can look similar. A self-assessment can point to trouble spots, but it cannot settle a diagnosis on its own. (cdc.gov) For schools, a fast screening tool can be useful because executive-function problems often show up as missed deadlines, disorganization, weak task initiation, or trouble regulating frustration. The U.S. Administration for Children and Families says these self-regulation capacities underpin planning, decision-making, and task completion across development. (acf.gov) The same issues follow students into higher education. Northeastern University’s Neurodiversity Initiative lists planning, time management, organization, and communication among the executive-function challenges that can derail college work without structured supports. (northeastern.edu) Block pitched the worksheet as free and quick to use, which makes it easy to slot into intake forms, parent meetings, or progress check-ins. If it gets used that way, its value will be less in labeling a student than in giving adults and students a shared list of skills to target next. (x.com)