Focus Forward: An Executive Function Podcast

Ep 64: Minds in the Making: How Early Executive Function Development Shapes Childhood and Adult Success (ft. Ellen Galinsky & Megan McClelland)

Apr 23, 2025

53:53

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Quick takeaways

Fostering early executive function skills like attention and persistence significantly influences children's long-term academic success and resilience.

Incorporating play-based activities into learning enhances executive function development, making skill acquisition both enjoyable and effective for children.

Deep dives

The Significance of Executive Function Skills in Early Childhood

Executive function skills are vital for children's long-term success, with research indicating that attention and persistence at age four strongly predict academic outcomes, including college graduation rates. Studies show that children with well-developed attention and persistence skills are nearly 50% more likely to complete their college education compared to those with weaker skills. This highlights the importance of fostering these fundamental skills early in life, as they provide essential building blocks for learning and development. Understanding that these skills are not merely cognitive or social but encompass both aspects encourages parents and educators to focus on nurturing them through everyday interactions and activities.

Intro

4min

Unlocking Potential: The Power of Executive Function in Early Childhood

7min

Developing Executive Function Skills in Children

17min

The Role of Sports and Physical Activity in Child Development

3min

Empowering Executive Function in Children

21min

The Transformative Power of Early Executive Function Skills

3min

Today’s episode is one I’m especially excited to share with you. Whether you’re an Executive Function expert or you’re just starting out learning about these essential life skills, you’ll want to listen because we have not one but *two* Executive Function leaders featured.

First up, I’m so happy to have been joined once again by the OG of Executive Function awareness, Ellen Galinsky, who sat down with me on Focus Forward in March of 2024 when her book, The Breakthrough Years, came out. Ellen is the President of the Families and Work Institute and the elected President of the Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN). She also serves as senior research advisor to AASA, the School Superintendent Organization. Previously, she was the Chief Science Officer at the Bezos Family Foundation and faculty at Bank Street College. Her research has focused on the impact of work-life on families, child and adolescent development, youth voice, child-care, parent-professional relationship, and parental development. Ellen’s work has contributed deeply to how we understand children’s learning and development - and how we, as adults, can nurture it.

Our second Executive Function leader is Dr. Megan McClelland, an internationally recognized expert on school readiness and self-regulation in very young children. She is the Katherine E. Smith Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at Oregon State University, where she also directs the Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families. Megan’s research focuses on optimizing children's development, especially as it relates to children’s self-regulation, early learning, and school success. Her recent work has examined links between self-regulation and long-term outcomes from early childhood to adulthood and intervention efforts to improve these skills in young children. She is currently involved with multiple national and international projects to develop measures of self-regulation and improve school success in young children. Megan is also the co-author of Stop, Think, Act, a book all about how we as educators and parents can help our kids strengthen their EF skills through play.

Today, you’ll hear us talk about why executive function skills matter and how we can help kids strengthen them through everyday activities - Megan and Ellen help parents and educators see that we learn when we play! Whether you’re a parent, educator, or just someone who cares about kids' success in the long run, this episode is full of insights you won’t want to miss.

I hope you enjoy listening! Here are the show notes from the episode:

Learn More About Ellen Galinsky

Ellen Galinsky’s Website

www.ellengalinsky.com

The Breakthrough Years

https://ellengalinsky.com/the-breakthrough-years/

Mind in the Making

https://www.mindinthemaking.org/

Families and Work Institute

https://www.familiesandwork.org/

Learn More About Megan McClelland, PhD.

https://health.oregonstate.edu/directory/megan-mcclelland