Speech Therapy Connections
Executive Function Therapy for ADHD and Autism.
Support for Language, Social Communication and AAC Use.
Why Isn’t This Getting Better, Even With All the Practice?
Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering.
Why is my autistic or ADHD child still struggling with social skills, even after years of
social skills groups or social skills training?
Why does my ADHD child stay just as impulsive, even after we’ve explained the rule and
said no a hundred times?
Why does it feel like my autistic or ADHD child forgets the same rule we’ve talked
through a hundred times?
Why is my autistic or ADHD child still struggling with reading after years of phonics and
phonological practice?
Why does my autistic or ADHD child struggle to write stories, organize their thoughts, or
recall information they clearly know?
If you’ve been told your child needs more practice, more repetition, more social skills training, or
more reading intervention, and none of it has moved the needle the way it should, there’s
usually a reason. And it’s often not a language problem or a reading problem on its own.
It’s executive function.
The Missing Piece in Speech Therapy
Executive function is what lets us take what we know and actually use it in the moment: starting a task, holding information in working memory, shifting when something doesn’t go as planned, managing impulses, and organizing our thoughts into a sequence that makes sense. Language, reading, and social communication all run on these same skills.
Social skills. A social skills group can teach a child what to say, but using that language in a live conversation means shifting attention between what you’re saying and what the other person just said, holding onto the topic, managing the urge to interrupt, and adjusting in real time when the conversation goes somewhere unexpected. That’s executive function layered directly on top of language. If the executive function piece isn’t supported, the skill doesn’t always transfer on its own.
Impulsivity. Knowing a rule and being able to apply it in the heat of a moment are two different skills. Impulse control is an executive function skill, not a compliance issue, and repeating the rule more often doesn’t build the skill that’s actually missing.
We’ve talked about this 100 times. This is often a working memory and retrieval issue, not a matter of not listening. A child can genuinely know a rule and still be unable to access it in the exact moment they need it, especially if they’re already dysregulated.
Reading. Phonics and phonological awareness build decoding, but reading comprehension depends heavily on working memory (holding sentences in mind while reading the next one), organization (tracking a storyline), and cognitive flexibility (updating your understanding as new information comes in). A child can decode every word and still struggle to comprehend or recall what they read if the executive function scaffolding underneath isn’t there.
Writing and recall. Writing a story means planning a sequence, holding a plan in mind while producing language, organizing ideas, and monitoring whether what’s on the page matches what you meant to say. Recalling information works the same way. When a child knows it but can’t get it out, that’s frequently an executive function bottleneck, not a knowledge gap.
Executive Function For AAC Users, Non-speaking/Minimally Speaking Autistic Kids, and Kids Who Use Delayed Echolalia To Communicate
Executive function support is too often reserved for verbal, compliant kids who can sit still and answer questions on demand. We don’t work that way.
AAC users, non-speaking and minimally speaking kids, and autistic kids who use delayed echolalia to communicate have executive function needs too, and they deserve direct support for them. There’s no such thing as having to have a certain language ability or having to perform a certain way to receive executive function supports. We adapt here.
There is no such thing as being ready for executive function support. Executive function and communication develop together, not in sequence, and kids who communicate in ways other than traditional spoken language are so often left out of executive function support entirely. That gap is exactly what we work to close.
Executive Function and Regulation, Together
Our approach has been developed through our own clinical expertise supporting neurodivergent students, continuing education, and multiple respected professionals in the executive function field. Our work has been informed by Sarah Ward’s executive function approach, Unstuck and On Target!, the work of George McCloskey, the work of Russell Barkley, professional education through Learning: the Brain, and Tera Sumpter’s Sumpter Executive Function Framework (SEFF).
We bring these perspectives together through our own clinical lens: executive function and regulation are deeply connected and should be supported together. Rather than treating regulation as something that must happen before executive function work can begin, we look at how a person’s ability to regulate their attention, emotions, thoughts, and actions interacts with executive function throughout everyday life.
That lens is what shapes how we approach language, reading, and social communication too. We don’t isolate executive function from the rest of a person’s communication profile. We look at how it’s showing up inside language processing, social interaction, literacy, and self-expression, and we build support around the whole picture.
Who We Work With
We provide speech therapy for executive function challenges affecting:
Autistic children, teens, and adults, including AAC users, non-speaking and minimally speaking individuals, and gestalt language processors
Children, teens, and adults with ADHD
Kids with language processing differences, learning disabilities, or dyslexia where executive function is part of the picture
2e (twice-exceptional) and gifted kids whose executive function needs get overlooked because their language skills mask the struggle
Kids and teens where anxiety or sensory processing differences intersect with language, reading, or social communication
We also offer speech therapy parent training, so the strategies that work in session carry over into homework, morning routines, and everyday communication at home.
Let’s Look at What’s Actually Underneath
If your child has done the social skills groups, the reading intervention, the reminders about the rules, and progress still isn’t sticking the way it should, the answer may not be more of the same. It may be time to look at the executive function piece underneath the language.