How do children develop executive function?
Executive function skills help us plan, focus attention, switch gears, and juggle multiple tasks—much like an air traffic control system at a busy airport. Acquiring the early building blocks of these skills is one of the most important and challenging tasks of the early childhood years. Their strength is critical to healthy development throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.
This video explains how children develop these skills, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them contributes to lifelong health and well-being.
This is an overview of “Building the Brain’s ‘Air Traffic Control’ System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function,” a Working Paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.
*Learn more about executive function—and find activities to help children develop these core skills—in this guide from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University:
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resource-guides/guide-executive-function/*
For more short summaries of other topics in early childhood development, including resilience and childhood mental health, view our InBrief video series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCCB05A22FA9C24EC
Major funding support for this video has been provided by Bezos Family Foundation, Birth to Five Policy Alliance, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Casey Family Programs, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
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