Executive Functioning Skills 101: The Basics of Task Initiation

In the new world of distance learning and virtual home-school, we hear the same pleas from hundreds of parents, caregivers, teachers, and employers, “I feel like I’m giving hundreds of reminders every day. How hard is it to Just. Get. Started?”

In situations where we’re asking for a greater level of independence from our kids, teens, and adults than ever before, challenges with task initiation become even more apparent. All parents, caregivers, and mentors navigate some stalling, delay tactics, and the occasional need for prompting. But when supporting teens and young adults that struggle with task initiation, it can be one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects of caregiving and coaching.

For decades researchers studied how individuals with unique learning needs show differences in executive functioning skills like task initiation. These issues translate into challenges with a variety of daily living skills and social relationships. For many, initiating tasks without adult support is considered a behavioral cusp, or a foundational skill that opens the doors to learning and experiencing the environment in ways that make old behaviors obsolete. It’s one of the most valuable executive functioning skills parents, caregivers, educators, and individuals themselves can invest in teaching.

For a developmental snapshot of how task initiation and other executive functioning skills typically progress through all stages of life, explore our Executive Functioning Skills by Age Guide.

Here’s why:

The Basics of Task Initiation

Task initiation involves an individual’s ability to initiate and independently start a task. It can include various skills, including independently generating ideas, solving problems, and responding to instructions without needing others’ support.

Along with time management and planning, task initiation is considered one of the core executive functioning skills and can be problematic for many individuals with ASD and attention-related diagnoses.

Learners with task initiation issues might:

• Need many reminders from adults to start a task.
• Delay chores and homework until they need to rush to finish on time.
• Frequently ask for help, even with simple tasks.
• Engage in problem behavior to escape or avoid tasks.

Examples of Task Initiation

Even though task initiation seems like a simple skill to teach, it can encompass a wide range of different skills. Some examples of task initiation goals a learner might work on include:

• Begins a task within 3 seconds of the instruction.
• Completes familiar daily routines without needing instruction.
• Identifies and gathers the materials necessary to complete a task.
• Completes the final step of one job and moves on to the next job within 30 seconds.
• Responds to a countdown timer to begin a task.
• Independently identifies the starting point for an unfamiliar task.
• Refrains from problem behavior when asked to start a task.
• Leaves a preferred activity to begin a non-preferred activity.
• Understands when to ask for help and when to keep trying to solve a problem independently.

How Task Initiation Skills Influence Challenging Behavior

While there can be many different reasons an individual does not initiate a behavior, problems with escape and avoidance can be incredibly disruptive to families, schools, and the workplace.

One of the reasons task initiation related-behaviors can be challenging is that they come in a wide range of profiles. Parents and teachers may have to manage behaviors like avoiding by excessively chatting about a preferred topic to aggression or self-injury. Over time, teens and young adults who require prompting and support to start and finish tasks can become increasingly more dependent on adults around them.

By addressing task initiation deficits, individuals get a two-fold benefit. They’re apt to encounter fewer aversives in the form of ‘nagging’ parents, redirections, and physical or verbal prompting. And because they complete tasks independently, individuals also likely encounter higher rates of positive reinforcements like praise, success with goals, and tangible reinforcers. The more quickly a child learns to complete tasks, the faster they can move on to preferred activities, ultimately reducing the time everyone spends dealing with problem behavior.

How Do I Evaluate Task Initiation Skills?

1. Start with a skills assessment. There are many different executive functioning skills assessments available to families and educators. These simple assessments and checklists can be completed without prior training and focus heavily on your personal experience with your child or client. To start brainstorming the task initiation skills your child or client might need to build upon, download our task initiation skills pre-assessment below and complete it together.
2. Examine the motivation. When examining task initiation at the individual level, it’s essential to recognize that skill and motivation are closely tied. For each task that an individual might be refusing or struggling to complete, we must examine can’t do versus won’t do. If failures to start a task are because the individual can’t do the skill (perhaps because of motor or cognitive development), we can simply teach the skill. Often, task initiation issues occur for teens and young adults because the individual won’t do the skill. At least, not with the current motivators available to them. In these scenarios, we then must examine how to build success and independence in ways that reward and reinforce positive behavior. If you’ve observed your child or client demonstrate the skill in the past under different conditions (or if they can demonstrate the skill once you’ve helped them get started), chances are your task initiation goals should begin with motivation.
3. Organize the support network. You may not be alone in identifying areas to build executive functioning skills. If your child or client receives speech, OT, PT, or other IEP services, they may already have goals related to task initiation skills. Reach out to the care team to coordinate ways to incorporate task initiation programming into the other therapy schedules.
4. Seek a professional evaluation. If the current care coordination team does not have an executive functioning expert on board, consider adding a professional trained in this area. Behavior analysts, psychologists, life skills coaches, and parenting coaches can all be helpful resources to give you the tools and skills necessary to help your child or client succeed.

Further Reading

• Kenworthy, L., Yerys, B. E., Anthony, L. G., & Wallace, G. L. (2008). Understanding executive control in autism spectrum disorders in the lab and in the real world. Neuropsychology Review, 18(4), 320–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-008-9077-7
• Life Skills Advocate Blog: Executive Functioning and Challenging Behavior
• Life Skills Advocate Blog: Help Your Child Develop A Strong “Why” When Goal Setting
• Life Skills Advocate Blog: Pandemic Back to School Guide
• Smith, G. J., McDougall, D., & Edelen-Smith, P. (2006). Behavioral cusps: A person-centered concept for establishing pivotal individual, family, and community behaviors and repertoires. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 21(4), 223-229.