Hi, my name is Stephanie and today I want to talk to you about the executive
function, initiation. Now, I have talked before on this channel in a different
video about the executive functions, but I kind of wanted to be able to break
down the individual functions and how they work and maybe how to improve on
them, that kind of thing. So, we're starting with initiation, which is
probably my worst one. Initiation is the ability to start something. So, that could
be an activity, a task, a plan - whatever it may be.
Now, some sources I've seen tend to imply that ... a failure in initiation might be
due to something not being interesting enough. I've seen a lot of people try to
motivate people who have difficulty with initiation but a lot of times initiation
doesn't have anything to do with how much you want to do something. So, it
could be something you really want to do and really need to do but sometimes we
come to this place where it's like almost impossible unless if someone else
comes along to initiate the process. There are many factors that play into
the issue with initiation. These could be things like anxiety, perfectionism, or not
knowing when or how to start. There's also the distractions of a million other
things that need to be done or have ... attention paid to that could essentially
paralyze someone from being able to start any of them. I think initiation can
be applied to social situations, especially for autistics, where
initiating a social interaction is difficult and a lot of times autistics
need to see that being modeled by somebody else. But to be fair here, that
is just a theory of mine. However, while I definitely struggle with initiation, I
would like to find ways to help and maybe remedy the situation a little bit
and share those with you. So, hence, this video. Some ways to combat deficits with
the executive function of initiation is to eliminate distractions and make tasks
manageable. For example, when there's a lot of things to do in a day, it can be
difficult to figure out which one to even start with and then that task is
huge and there's all these things that are going on, and it's hard
to find where to start how to start and that essentially can paralyze you from
being able to actually do something. This does play into other executive functions
but basically, once you know what needs to be done, what can be done, what needs
to be done in what order, etc., you can start on that first thing. Some of these
might need to be broken into smaller tasks or sub goals to reach the overall
goal or completed task. This way, it becomes a little more manageable. You
know exactly what's expected of you or what exactly you need to do to meet that
completion and therefore it's easier to know exactly what to do to start. Timers
also tend to help because they can function as reminders or even just kind
of as a way to, you know, make a sound or something, almost like "go!" outside of
yourself to initiate the task. It's kind of like that sound or that timer is
initiating it for you so you can follow along, if that makes sense. Some people
also suggest for you to be able to kind of do those sorts of things so that
there be breaks kind of set in with your tasks as well, so you kind of know, like,
when I start this, this is what's going to happen, but it's not gonna be forever.
I'm gonna get a breather. Let your brain kind of have a rest, but you do kind of
want those to be timed so that you don't just get lost in lala land and never get
back to what you were supposed to be doing and initiate the correct task. Now,
for tasks that reoccur, the best thing you can do is to make them into a
routine. The reason for this is that it takes it out of the executive functioning
realm of your brain so that way there is not that load on the executive
functioning. So, if you can make things that recur all the time into a schedule,
if you're not good at that sort of thing, obviously, it would be helpful if someone
outside of yourself can help you make a realistic schedule that becomes a
routine for you. So, it's by habit instead of relying on your executive functioning
skills, that would be fantastic. For those of us who don't necessarily have another
person to support us, you can try making your own schedule and setting timers to
help prompt you when you need to be reminded or maybe help with initiating
the next task. This also tends to be a plus for people on the spectrum because
we tend to find comfort and maybe a little bit of
soothing in the idea of routine and sameness and things just going right for
us and the way they're supposed to go. And another suggestion is to make a
visual kind of schedule or a visual list. Something that you can see with your
eyes that might be able to help you envision what needs to happen and how it
needs to happen and just kind of see things, if that makes sense.
Because some people don't do well translating language, like written
language, into something that makes sense for them and easy to visualize. So, for
some people, especially for some reason people in the spectrum, seem to really do
well with pictures and stuff like that for what needs to happen. Again, this goes
in with like the whole scheduling, trying to make it into a routine, etc. Basically,
the best thing to do is to try to take things out of the executive functioning
arena and putting it into a place where it can just be a habit so that way
there's not so much a load and that way it's not as difficult to initiate tasks.
Now, I'll be trying out these methods more extensively as I start college because
there's probably no other way I'm going to survive and it's only part-time
college right now, so. It's going to be great. I am honestly terrified but hopefully these tips or
whatnot, this information about the initiation executive function, helped you.
Hopefully, these will help me as well. Let me know if you guys have anything that
has helped you with initiation. Let me know in the comments below. If you found
this video interesting or helpful go ahead and give it a thumbs up and if you
like to hear from me about autism topics, I upload to this channel about that
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that you're having a wonderful week. Also, I keep on forgetting to mention, I do
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if you want to support me like that, you can. I mean, it's up to you. But, anyway,
hope you're having a wonderful week and I'll see you in my next video. Bye!