Executive Function and the Twenty-sided Die Games:

How RPGs Naturally Support Cognitive Development

by Dee Cárdenas, MAT

The Backstory

Neurodiversity acknowledges that both thinking and behavior vary greatly within human populations. Neurodivergence describes the spectrum of ways people's brains take in, process, and respond to information and stimuli. Neurodiversity includes ADHD, autism spectrum, dyslexia and dyscalculia, OCD, and other conditions that may not always bring 504 services in a school setting.

For parents of neurodiverse children and educators working with neurodiverse students, finding engaging activities that naturally support cognitive development can be challenging. While traditional educational interventions have their place, tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons are emerging as powerful, yet underutilized tools for developing executive function skills in a context that many neurodiverse children find naturally motivating and accessible. 

Understanding Executive Function Challenges

Executive function encompasses the cognitive processes that help us plan our actions, focus our attention, recall multistep instructions, switch between several tasks, and regulate our emotions. For neurodiverse children, these skills often develop differently or require additional support.

Traditional approaches to building executive function typically involve:

• Direct instruction of strategies

• Highly structured environments

• External reward systems

• Repetitive practice of isolated skills

This is where tabletop RPGs offer a compelling alternative. 

How Role Playing Games Naturally Support Executive Function

1. Working Memory Enhancement

For a child with working memory challenges, these demands might seem overwhelming at first glance. In RPGs, players must:

• Follow a set of rules, quite often complex

• Remember details about the game world and its story

• Maintain awareness of their character's abilities and inventory

• Recall previous events and how they connect to current situations

However, in a highly engaging, story-driven context players are intrinsically motivated to remember these details. The GM and other players also serve as natural supports, creating a scaffolded environment for working memory practice and development.

2. Cognitive Flexibility Practice

RPGs require players to:

• Adapt to unexpected narrative turns

• Recalibrate strategies when plans go sideways

• Shift between different types of thinking (creative storytelling, tactical problem-solving, social negotiation)

• Consider different perspectives/POVs through character roleplay

These constant opportunities to practice cognitive shifting occur naturally within the flow of the game, unlike isolated drills or exercises targeting the same skills. In this way, the RPG mimics real life and allows the player a safe space to practice shifting and refocusing attention.

3. Planning and Organization Skills

Successfully navigating an RPG adventure demands:

• Formulating multistep plans

• Prioritizing objectives

• Managing resources (character abilities, items, finances, spell slots)

• Organizing information (through character sheets, notes, maps)

Each game session presents authentic planning challenges with meaningful consequences, increasing engagement and generalization of these skills. Because many RPGs are not played in real time, players have the luxury of forethought: the group can plan any given action out of game time. They also are afforded the opportunity to think through the results of natural consequences as a group, or brainstorm the allocation of assets held by another PC.

4. Impulse Control and Emotional Regulation

The collaborative nature of RPGs cultivates:

• Taking turns and waiting for others

• Considering consequences before actions

• Managing frustration when dice rolls or story events don't go as hoped

• Separating in-character and out-of-character emotions

The social contract of the game provides natural boundaries and immediate feedback on impulsive behavior, making self-regulation practice inherently meaningful. Many RPGs require the player to narrate the actions of their PC, and both the group as well as the GM can provide in-the-moment reactions and the opportunity for support in thinking through the consequences of a choice.

Real Benefits for Neurodiverse Children

Research and clinical observations are beginning to validate what many RPG-playing families have discovered through experience. A 2021 study in the Journal of Child and Family Studies found that structured D&D sessions significantly improved executive function measures in adolescents with ADHD, with effects comparable to traditional cognitive interventions but with higher engagement and completion rates.

And in Conclusion…

For neurodiverse children who often experience traditional skill-building exercises as tedious or disconnected from their interests, tabletop RPGs offer a revolutionary approach to developing executive function. By embedding complex cognitive demands within engaging narratives and supportive social contexts, these games transform what might otherwise be frustrating drills into adventures that children eagerly anticipate.

Kids who might resist every executive function workbook, therapy or app might try playing RPGs. As a former classroom teacher, I can say that when my students began playing D&D, I watched them spontaneously create organization systems for character information, plan multiple sessions ahead, and regulate disappointment when things didn't go as planned—all skills I'd been trying to share with them for years.

By bringing RPGs into our parenting and educational approaches, we can harness their natural capacity to support cognitive development while honoring neurodiverse children's needs for engagement, autonomy, and joy in the learning process.

Your Next Quest

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Together, we'll explore how the roll of a die can become a catalyst for growth, how a character sheet can become a roadmap for development, and how gathered around a table, telling stories together, we can help our children grow into their own heroes.

Next time: "Neurodivergence and Role-Playing Games: A Space for Growth, Learning and Imagination”