Rethinking Anxiety in Neurodivergent Learners: Why Executive Function Skills Matter

In my practice, I often use games to understand how students learn. Games quickly reveal important things: How confident is a learner when faced with something new? Do they dive right into the hardest level, or do they prefer to slowly test the waters? These differences highlight something we’ve all experienced - sometimes we feel excited by a challenge, and other times, we freeze or shut down because the situation feels overwhelming. For many neurodivergent learners, that sense of overwhelm shows up frequently in school, and it is often misinterpreted as simply “anxiety.”

What we now know is that anxiety in children with ADHD or autism is extremely common. Studies estimate that about 40% of children with autism also struggle with an anxiety disorder, with rates climbing in adolescence, and children with ADHD show similarly high rates of co-occurring anxiety. Traditionally, this anxiety has been treated on its own - through therapy, relaxation strategies, or medication. But new research suggests that in many cases, the real driver is underdeveloped executive function (EF) skills. Simply put, when a child struggles with organization, planning, memory, and self-regulation, school becomes stressful, and that stress often shows up as anxiety.

Executive functions are the brain’s “control center” for learning and daily life. They help us hold information in mind, focus attention, manage time, and adapt when things don’t go as planned. While these skills develop gradually throughout childhood, many neurodivergent students tend to lag behind their peers in this area. For children with ADHD, weak working memory and poor impulse control are common challenges. Autistic students often struggle with flexible thinking -shifting from one idea to another or adapting to unexpected changes. When these executive skills are shaky, school demands can feel chaotic, unpredictable, and unmanageable. And over time, that chaos can fuel the kind of anxiety parents and teachers see every day.

This is where Vygotsky’s idea of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is especially helpful. He described learning as most effective when it happens just beyond what a student can do independently, with the right support. Since lessons in schools are designed for the whole class, some students are likely to be in the 'inability' zone. When learners are in the anxiety zone, their working memory shrinks, their focus scatters, and they can’t benefit fully from that scaffolding. The challenge stops being “just right” and instead feels impossible. By providing students with tools to address the challenges in the 'out-of-reach' zone, we open the door to any learning situation, even when the subject is presented in a different way or is completely new. That’s why addressing anxiety in isolation doesn’t work if the root cause is executive functioning challenges.

In fact, research now shows that executive functioning is the bridge between neurodevelopmental conditions and anxiety. One study found that in adolescents with ADHD, it wasn’t the ADHD symptoms themselves that predicted anxiety - it was the severity of their executive function deficits. Similarly, autistic children who struggled with flexibility and adapting to change were more likely to experience anxiety, even after accounting for autism severity. These findings echo what parents often notice: a child’s “anxiety” about school may really be a reflection of their ongoing struggle to manage executive demands.

So, what can we do? The most effective approach is to build up executive function skills directly. This might involve starting with an out-of-school experiment, allowing students to become comfortable with strategies, and then gradually applying the same problem-solving strategies in real-world contexts. In my work, I coach students through these strategies in different contexts, so they learn how to apply them where it matters most. Over time, students begin to experience success, homework is turned in, projects feel less overwhelming, and they develop confidence in their ability to handle challenges.

As executive skills grow stronger, anxiety often begins to fade. The stomachaches before school, the Sunday night meltdowns, the avoidance of hard tasks - all start to diminish because school no longer feels like a minefield of potential failure. Instead, it becomes a place where students feel more capable, more in control, and more willing to take risks in their learning.

The takeaway for parents is this: if your child’s anxiety seems to revolve around school, look beyond the surface. Ask not just “How can we calm their fears?” but also “What executive skills do they need to feel more confident and successful?” By addressing the root cause, we can help neurodivergent learners not only manage their anxiety but also thrive in school and beyond.

Resources:

1. Vieira, A. P. A., Georgiou, G. K., & Kotelnikova, Y. (2025). Do children with comorbid reading and mathematics difficulties experience more internalizing problems? Journal of Learning Disabilities.

2. Bussing, R., et al. (2000). Self-esteem in special education children with ADHD. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

3. Barkley, R. A. (2012). Executive functions: What they are, how they work, and why they evolved. Guilford Press.

4. Sharfi, K., & Rosenblum, S. (2016). Executive Functions, Time Organization and Quality of Life among Adults with Learning Disabilities. PLoS One.

5. Cutting, L. E., et al. (2003). Evidence for unexpected weaknesses in learning in children with ADHD. Journal of Learning Disabilities.

6. Horowitz-Kraus, T. (2014). Pinpointing the deficit in executive functions in adolescents with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities.

7. Karalunas, S. L., et al. (2020). Executive dysfunction mediates the relationship between ADHD symptoms and anxiety in adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

8. South, M., et al. (2025). Cognitive flexibility predicts anxiety in autistic youth. Autism Research.

9. Krietsch, K., et al. (2023). Executive functioning challenges as a barrier to child therapy engagement. Journal of Child & Family Studies.

10. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.