Wait, what?! Maybe you've heard. It's all the rage in the scientific community, and impacting every level of education.
Executive Functioning.
Otherwise known as "adulting" in it's most mature form, executive functioning includes all of the skills necessary to regulate behavior, and become independent, fully developed humans. Through the pre-frontal cortex, our executive functioning (EF) system acts as the air traffic control of the brain. It interacts with and directs with many other parts of the brain to use acquired knowledge in the real world everyday.
It's what helps us to use communication to create connections, maintain focus in distracting workplace environments, prioritize tasks according to importance, and problem solve based upon new and changing information.
Inhibitory control, working memory, and mental flexibility are the component skills that together make up EF. According Harvard's Center on the Developing Child, we are all born with the capacity to develop highly effective EF, but it requires lots of guided practice.
Check out this great resource to learn how you can foster EF development from infancy through adolescence: https://46y5eh11fhgw3ve3ytpwxt9r-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Enhancing-and-Practicing-Executive-Function-Skills-with-Children-from-Infancy-to-Adolescence-1.pdf
Comments