Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

Send us a textThe brain’s prefrontal cortex is often described as the “work in progress” intimating that there exists a continuum of neural development shaped by an interplay between biology and behavior; each influencing the other. Naturally, Executive Function, a set of skills controlled by the prefrontal cortex, emerges slowly allowing humans to form future goals and gain independence in order to become more and more self-possessed. Based on the past few decades of research, educational and cognitive scientists have confirmed that every aspect of modern life requires strong executive function including daily planning, workplace productivity, ability to make and keep friends, marital harmony, abiding by law, and warding of social and legal troubles. This understanding has created an urgency to address the disruptions in executive function as they interfere with students succeeding in school, employees at work, and individuals in their social circle.On this episode, cognitive neuroscientist, Professor Adele Diamond, discusses how inhibition, self-control, mental flexibility, and many other Executive Function skills are valuable for everyday success. Her work suggests that “if we want children to do well in school and in life, we need to help them develop healthy executive functions.”About Professor Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC, FAPA, FAPSAdele Diamond is the Canada Research Chair Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at UBC in Vancouver.  She was educated at Swarthmore, Harvard, and Yale. Her specialty is “executive functions” (e.g., self-control, problem-solving, mentally playing with ideas, flexibly adjust to change, thinking outside the box) which depend on the brain’s prefrontal cortex and interrelated neural regions.  Her work has emphasized that executive functions can be improved even in the very young and very old, and anywhere in-between.  Dr. Diamond’s work on the unusual properties of the dopamine system in prefrontal cortex have improved medical treatment for ADHD and PKU, improving millions of children’s lives.Dr. Diamond offers a markedly different perspective from mainstream education in hypothesizing that focusing exclusively on training cognitive skills is less efficient, and ultimately less successful, than also addressing emotional, social, spiritual, and physical needs. Dr. Diamond also offers a perspective markedly different from traditional medical practice in hypothesizing that treating physical health, without also addressing social and emotional health is less efficient or effective.Recently, Dr. Diamond has turned her attention to the possible roles of music, dance, storytelling, martial arts, sports, and play in improving executive functions and academic and mental health outcomes.Website:http://www.devcogneuro.com/AdeleDiamond.htmlAdditional Resources:TEDx Talk – Turning some ideas on their head About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textNothing about the COVID-19 pandemic is business as usual. In fact, the social and economic stressors are taking a toll on every single person’s sense of well-being. Those taking care of children and those in frail health have the added burden of creating a safe home environment while providing critical support with patience, compassion, and positivity; in spite of feeling the opposite. The good news is that decades of research has shown that while being in home confinement and socially distancing, those who will successfully figure out ways and forge a path towards anchored sanity are likely to bounce back like a skilled ninja.On this episode, guest Dr. Linda Graham, an experienced psychotherapist and Mindful Self-Compassion teacher, shares her expertise about how the mind, body, emotions, heart, and spirit react to threats, losses, and rejections. She discusses how individuals, families, and communities can work together while building protective factors to react to the world of challenge with abundant resilience.About Linda Graham, MFTLinda Graham, MFT is an experienced psychotherapist and Mindful Self-Compassion teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.  She is the author of Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster, and Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being. Her weekly Resources for Recovering Resilience are archived at www.lindagraham-mft.net.Websites:www.lindagraham-mft.netBooks:Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even DisasterBouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-BeingHelpful Books:Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest ChallengesSelf-Compassion: the Proven Power of Being Kind to YourselfThe Body Keeps the ScoreAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textWhat do extinct dinosaurs, shrinking planet Mercury, pygmies from Africa, Mesopotamian pottery, Roman bath houses, and the COVID-19 virus have in common? These are topics that once children know about, can build their knowledge of the world and expand their world view. Considering that in modern America, education is the best hope in minimizing the effects of inequity, we are better off exposing children to expansive topics, stories, ideas, and concepts that can frame successfully their innate curiosity and build early childhood learning readiness.On this episode, Natalie Wexler, journalist and author of the book, The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It, shares why a comprehension problem in reality is a knowledge problem. Even though it’s well intended, she believes that the universal approach of focusing on comprehension to improve reading skills may fail to form essential knowledge. Her research emphasizes that the surprise benefit of a content rich curriculum is such that it provides an opportunity to all learners to discover something they didn’t know they were even interested in and shape them into engaged and self-driven students.About Natalie WexlerNatalie Wexler is the author of The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It, and the co-author, with Judith C. Hochman, of The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and other publications, and she is a senior contributor on education to Forbes.com.Websites:www.nataliewexler.comBooks:The Knowledge GapThe Writing RevolutionHelpful Articles:Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly WrongHow to Get Your Mind to ReadThe Achievement Gap Hasn’t Budged In 50 Years. Now What?About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textThere is a widespread acknowledgement that experts are made and not born and those who investigate how experts become experts that have studied the fields like surgery, computer programming, chess, ballet, music, or even firefighting agree that excellent training, deliberate practice, and exposure to masterful mentors are some key ingredients that seem to matter. So those who teach could benefit from the evidence that in order to put forth the best teaching teachers need to witness and interact with the best practitioners. That way, we might be able to rethink the concepts of the best students or the best classrooms by focusing on creating the best teacher experts.On this episode, co-founder, executive director, and language arts teacher, Kim Bearden from the Ron Clark Academy, will share ideas on inspired teaching and awesome student engagement. She will discuss teaching methods that bring the students’ desire to learn into focus and inspire them to work hard on their challenges.About Kim BeardenKim Bearden is the cofounder, executive director, and language arts teacher at the highly acclaimed Ron Clark Academy, an innovative middle school and educator-training facility in Atlanta. Over 62,000 educators from around the world have visited Kim’s classroom and have attended her workshops to learn better ways to promote success in their own schools.In 2016, Kim was honored at the White House by President Obama for being inducted into to the National Teachers Hall of Fame. She was selected from 70,000 nominations as the Disney American Teacher Awards Outstanding Humanities Teacher, and the Milken Family Foundation selected her for the Award for Excellence in Education. She is the winner of the InfluencHer Award, the UGA Outstanding Educator Award, and the Turknett Character Award for Servant Leadership. Mercedes-Benz recognized her in their Greatness Lives Here campaign, and Women Works Media Group has named her one of Georgia’s Most Powerful and Influential Women. Over the past thirty-three years, she has been a teacher, instructional lead teacher, curriculum director, school-board member, staff-development trainer, and middle-school principal. Kim is a bestselling author of two books. Her newest book is Talk to Me: Find the Right Words to Inspire, Encourage, and Get Things Done.Websites:KimBearden.comhttps://premierespeakers.com/kim_beardenRonClarkAcademy.comAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textThe classroom neurodiversity happens to pose a challenge to educators not because we have a surge in the neurodiverse student body but more likely that we have acquired newer insights into how to differentiate different learners. The question remains however, what do we know about ways in which to impart knowledge and teach skills needed for their future? Since Executive Function challenges are insidious in nature, it is often hard for educators to distinguish the motives behind “can’t do” over “won’t do” behaviors. The art of teaching comes down to adjusting expectations without offering a free pass or lowering accountability while supporting skill building.On today’s podcast, guest and head of the AIM Academy, Chris Herman, discusses how creating school-wide beliefs, principles, and approaches which include teaching and reinforcing growth in executive skills can promote strong outcomes for all students.About Chris Herman, M.EdChris Herman is Head of School at AIM Academy in Philadelphia where he has been for 14 years. There, he remains devoted to bringing school to life for children with learning differences every day. He is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and Long Island University. He is an adjunct professor of Education at St. Joseph’s University.Websites:http://www.aimpa.org/About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textAll parents want their children to grow up, be independent, and find happiness. Their conventional wisdom says, let me push my child to do well in school, work hard on stuff, and take part in various activities to “find” themselves. Because to a parent, the path to success has a formula “Education + Passion + Excellent Performance = Career” which equals to a life of bliss! And well-meaning parents want their children to find a career and then through that connect to their passion. But what if the formula runs into a glitch?On this episode, guest Clinical Neuropsychologist and co-author of The Self-Driven Child, William Stixrud, Ph.D., discusses effective psychological approaches that are likely help parents reset their “reality”, help teachers adjust their task specific support, and help learners understand and accept that reinventing one’s self is a lifelong process.About Dr. William StixrudWilliam R. Stixrud, Ph.D., is a clinical neuropsychologist and founder of The Stixrud Group, a lifespan neuropsychology practice. He is also a member of the Adjunct Faculty of the Children’s National Medical Center, and he holds a faculty appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the George Washington School of Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Stixrud is a frequent lecturer, and he has authored scientific articles on Transcendental Meditation and book chapters on meditation and the integration of the arts into education. Dr. Stixrud has been quoted often in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, Scientific American, Time.com, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Barron’s, and Vogue.Dr. Stixrud holds a doctorate degree in School Psychology from the University of Minnesota. He did his training in neuropsychology at the Children’s Hospital of Boston (as a fellow of the Harvard Medical School) and Tufts New England Medical Center. Dr. Stixrud is also a rock and roll musician and plays in the band Close Enough.Websites:http://www.theselfdrivenchild.com/BooksThe Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their LivesAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textUncertainly, unceasing demands, and all around unrest can provoke the feelings of restlessness, a state of irritability, and intense worrying and general dissatisfaction. But clinically speaking, these feelings of being on the edge are the signs of anxiety and often when they exceed the threshold of bearability a sense of unending despair can follow.On today’s podcast, psychiatrist, author of the book “The Moment of Insight”, educator, and celebrated speaker, Dr. Suvrat Bhargave from the Center for Family Psychiatry, discusses the true nature of the “growing pains” of children for whom the world is a large mass of unknown. He says anxiety is within the range of human experience and human emotion and by cultivating inner awareness, one can bring about important and meaningful changes and remind children that “HOPE is the possibility of something good”.About Suvrat Bhargave, MDSuvrat Bhargave, M.D. is a renowned and respected educator, author, speaker, and board-certified psychiatrist, specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry. His uncanny ability to relate to a multi-demographic audience has allowed his practice to reach an unparalleled level of success based on empathy, education, and empowerment. His book, A Moment of Insight: Universal Lessons Learned from a Psychiatrist’s Couch, offers practical strategies and thought provoking narratives to not only understand and persevere through challenging dilemmas, but to see greater purpose during these times. He demonstrates this through poignant patient stories and personal accounts.Affectionately known for his “relatable expertise”, Dr. Bhargave is highly sought after to lecture locally and nationally on a broad range of topics pertaining to personal growth, effective parenting, relationship satisfaction, and mental health conditions. After completing his residency training and specialty fellowship from Duke University, Dr. B (as he is lovingly called by his patients) continued his practice in hospitals, community health, and private practice settings. Throughout the years, he has been most inspired by the impact his caring nature, education, and treatment have had on others to facilitate change and to experience fulfillment through gradual but dynamic moments of “insight and awareness”. A passionate advocate for healing and empowerment, Dr. B is compelled to bring a world of change to each person one moment at a time. To learn more about Dr. B and invite him to speak at your next event, visit.Websites:www.DrBhargave.comwww.AMomentOfInsight.comBooksA Moment of Insight : Universal Lessons Learned from a Psychiatrist’s CouchAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textRandomly scattered stars light up the night sky, but it is human inventiveness and imagination that has connected these cosmic dots into the constellations we know so well. As the podcast Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function celebrates its 100th episode, we have the same pleasure of connecting the scattered ideas that experts have shared with us over the past two years into a meaningful constellations of Executive Function concepts. We’ll explore these concepts and their impact on learning, education, self-efficacy, interpersonal connectivity, and the human story of personal progress.Here are 10 lessons learned from 100 interviews with researchers, psychologists, neuroscientists, educators, authors, journalists, and thought leaders who believe that the power of the brain is a gift to us all – a gift we must take the time to unwrap with careful attention to details, mindfulness, and tremendous self-control.10 Things Learned:Success stems from the complex balance between talent, effort, and effective orchestration of future-forward thinking. Such skills are known as Executive Function, which allow us to map out our thoughts, behaviors, and actions in order to yield favorable outcomes that benefit the future-self. Here are the 10 takeaways:At the heart of human evolution is the ability to inhibit, which means saying no to the impulsive thoughts, ideas, and desires that lead to actions that only benefit us in the now.Executive Function skills allow us to become intentional, reflective, and problem solvers. But in order to activate the prefrontal system that accomplishes this, we have to get off “autopilot.”Executive Function systems are brought online when we learn new things because novel information requires novel adaptive responses.The brain is the most advanced future simulator. It allows us to envision the future and provides us with the tools to imagine the self through the continuity of time. We must extend compassion towards that “future self” who is hopelessly dependent on the mercy of the current self.Student success depends largely on the mastery of Executive Function because academic skills including reading comprehension, completing projects, conducting research, and writing papers all requires highly engaged Executive Function skills.There are innumerable barriers in attaining self-actualization; primarily, our self-blindness. We are often erroneously guided by our false confidence in our ability to be rational, fair, and consistent.Executive Function skills are extremely critical for transitions as they help us with the adaptive adjustment needed as we exit one area of our life and enter another. But we are not always fully prepared to handle such adjustments with resilience and grace.Executive Function skills are directly related to the maturation of the brain—delayed development, brain injury, and aging all impact the growth of these skills, especially decision making, problem solving, and adaptive and emotional adjustment.While stress often feels undesirable, it turns on adaptive flexibility and engages Executive Function. Stress in small to moderate doses is an essential ingredient to sharpening our self-regulation and critical self-directed problem solving.The most hopeful message from experts is that Executive Function can be cultivated, nurtured, and strengthened through practice and coaching. These skills can be put to test with carefully crafted activities by parents and educators alike.Even though life has many moving parts, including those that create utter chaos as well as those that bring sSupport the show

Send us a textWhen you shoot before you aim you get bad results. But that’s what everyday impulsiveness looks like for someone with ADHD. Pencil tapping, restless legs, inability to sit too long, distracted mind, interrupting others, and getting bored too quickly are some additional commonplace behaviors that highlight the habits and symptoms of those with ADHD. But beneath the surface the mismanagement of the goals, missing the forest for the trees, shooting from the hip, or regretting bad decisions is invisible to the naked eye.On today’s podcast, clinical psychologist, celebrated author, and director of the Brown ADHD Clinic for ADHD, Thomas Brown, Ph.D. discusses the complex syndrome of ADHD and its developmental impairments which often are situationally specific and its chronic and ongoing interference with life can be exhausting.About Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D.Dr. Brown is a clinical psychologist who received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is Director of the Brown Clinic for Attention & Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, CA. He specializes in assessment and treatment of high-IQ children, adolescents and adults with ADD/ADHD and related problems.After serving on the clinical faculty of the Yale Medical School for 20 years, Dr. Brown resigned to relocate to Manhattan Beach, California where he directs the Brown ADHD Clinic for ADHD and Related Problems in children and adults. He holds an appointment as Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.  He is also an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Assn.Dr. Brown has presented papers, workshops, courses and symposia at national meetings of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association,  American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, National Association of School Psychologists, International Neuropsychological Society, the National Attention Deficit Disorder Association and CHADD. He has also lectured at universities and international meetings of professionals in more than 40 countries.He is author of 5 books on ADHD; his work has been published in six different languages. His most recent books are: Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD (2014) and Outside the Box: Rethinking ADD/ADHD in Children and Adults-A Practical Guide (2017).Websites:BrownADHDClinic.comBooksOutside the Box: Rethinking ADD/ADHD in Children and Adults (American Psychiatric Publishing 2017)Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD (Jossey/Bass-Wiley, 2014)About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skilSupport the show

Send us a textThe answer to the question “What percentage of 16 million children living below the poverty line have a book in their home?” is 33%.  While that is devastating, the real question is, does this query truly capture the complexities of developing reading skills in children living in these disadvantaged circumstances and would the exposure to more books promote the development of reading. The first truth about reading is that it is a skill; a skill that needs to be learned and taught. It takes systematic instructional effort to create access to the treasures that are underneath the surface of printed words. And the true failure in education is not approaching “reading” that way.On this episode, Louisa Moats, Ed.D., a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduate school faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journal articles, books, and policy papers, will educate everyone how the brain was not wired for reading and how the complexities involved in acquiring proficiency in reading warrants special attention and specific training of educators who are in charge of making our children literate. We cannot talk about Executive Function and students’ capacity to manage information until we address the issue of successful transition from learning to read and then reading to learn.About Louisa Moats, Ed.D.Louisa Moats, Ed.D., has been a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduate school faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journal articles, books, and policy papers on the topics of reading, spelling, language, and teacher preparation. She was Co-Principal Investigator of an NICHD Early Interventions Project in Washington, D.C., public schools and Principal Investigator on two small business innovation research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health. In addition, she led the committee that developed the International Dyslexia Association’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading. Dr. Moats developed her current approach to teacher training, called LETRS, from her experiences as an instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, St. Michael’s College in Vermont, the Dartmouth Medical School Department of Psychiatry, and the University of Texas, Houston.Dr. Moats’ awards include the prestigious Samuel T. and June L. Orton award from the International Dyslexia Association for outstanding contributions to the field; the Eminent Researcher Award from Learning Disabilities Australia; and the Benita Blachman award from the Reading League.Websites:http://www.LouisaMoats.com/BooksSpeech to Print, 3rd edition (in press)LETRS Professional DevelopmentAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show