WORKING PAPER #11, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Ages 3 to 5

WORKING PAPER #11, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child
Ages 3 to 5: Development of Executive Function

Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary. Acquiring the early building blocks of these skills is one of the most important and challenging tasks of the early childhood years, and the opportunity to build further on these rudimentary capacities is critical to healthy development through middle childhood and adolescence.

A range of tests measuring different forms of executive function skills indicates that they begin to develop shortly after birth, with ages 3 to 5 providing a window of opportunity for dramatic growth in these skills. Growth continues throughout adolescence and early adulthood; proficiency begins to decline in later life.

Children's social play is believed to be an important practice ground for the development of executive function skills. Le Beaumont is applying this dimension to its highly interactive “Budding Genius” program for children from 3 to 5 in all languages.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/library/reports_and_working_papers/working_papers/wp11/