The Huffington Post – Ellen Galinsky
“In the next few weeks, millions of children across the United States will begin kindergarten. From public school to home school, and everything in between, parents, teachers and caregivers will do all they can to ensure that this transition into a formal school setting is as successful as possible. There are many factors that help determine this success, but one stands out as foundational to all the rest: executive function…Executive function refers to the self-regulatory skills children need to manage attention, thought, emotion, and behavior in order to pursue goals. They are at the core of every child’s ability to do well in school…While no child is born with executive function skills, all children have the potential to develop them. There is solid scientific evidence that executive function skills can be improved through practice, producing well-documented changes not only to children’s behavior but to their brains as well.”(more)