Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

Send us a textWhat’s common between a soccer mom who has a flat tire on the way to her son’s game, a Wall Street dad who just got told to stay in the office for the markets in the East to open, and a middle school girl who just got her new smart phone? They are all struggling to cope with feeling either anxious, lonely, stressed out, or tired. A dysregulated frontal lobe system often causes our executive function to crash and burn. Through mindfulness, one can cultivate a form of awareness that can bring attunement to knowing what you’re doing as you’re doing it.On this episode our guest, Dr. Christopher Willard (PsyD), a psychologist and educational consultant specializing in mindfulness, talks about the elements of mindfulness training and flexibility training.About Dr. Chris WillardDr. Christopher Willard (PsyD) is a psychologist and educational consultant based in Boston specializing in mindfulness.  He has been practicing meditation for 20 years, and has led hundreds of workshops around the world, with invitations to more than two dozen countries. He currently serves on the board of directors at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, and is the president of the Mindfulness in Education Network. He has presented at TEDx conferences and his thoughts have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, mindful.org, and elsewhere. He is the author of Child’s Mind (2010) Growing Up Mindful (2016) Raising Resilience (2017) and eight other books for parents, professionals and children, along with six sets of cards and therapeutic games, available in more than ten languages. He teaches at Harvard Medical School.On the personal side, he enjoys traveling, hiking, cooking, reading and writing, and being a father.Website:http://drchristopherwillard.com/Books:AlphabreathsGrowing Up MindfulRaising ResilienceAbout 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 textPsychologist and author Alexandra Horowitz says “Attention is an intentional, unapologetic discriminator. It asks what is relevant right now, and gears us up to notice only that.” It’s a gift to have such attentional acumen, but not everyone is lucky to have such a natural capacity for discrimination. In fact, in a neurogenetic and neuropsychiatric disorder like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the brain isn’t wired to successfully ignore things once they get noticed.In this big-picture episode, Sucheta discusses how and why ADHD is more like a disorder of Executive Function rather than simply a disorder of attention and how the management needs to include a comprehensive neurogentic & neurocognitive approach that centers around medication, behavior therapy, environmental modifications, and skill development.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 textIf you are taking a stroll on the beach while you have parked your car at a meter, you have to set aside some mental resources to think about the time and to make decisions to either return to your car to add money to the meter or take a chance or bear the pain of having to pay a fine later. But the human struggle of balancing the desire to be in the moment while also considering the future is exacerbated by conditions such as ADHD and that’s why many people struggle to cater to the needs of their future self while being their current self.On today’s podcast, our guest Ari Tuckman, Psy.D., a practicing psychologist, author of “ADHD After Dark: Better Sex Life, Better Relationship”, and a host of the Podcast “More Attention, Less Deficit”, talks about the disorder of ADHD and how it is truly all about executive function and shortening the unimaginable distance between the need of the current self and future self.About Ari Tuckman, PsyD, CSTAri Tuckman, PsyD, CST has given more than 350 presentations and routinely earns excellent reviews for his ability to make complicated information understandable and useful. He is the author of four books: “ADHD After Dark: Better Sex Life, Better Relationship”, “Understand Your Brain, Get More Done”, “More Attention, Less Deficit” and “Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD”. His “More Attention, Less Deficit” podcast has more than 100 episodes and more than two million downloads. He is a psychologist and sex therapist in private practice in West Chester, PA, a former board member of CHADD National, and co-chair of the CHADD conference committee.Website:adultADHDbook.comBooks:Understand Your Brain, Get More Done: The ADHD Executive Functions WorkbookMore Attention, Less Deficit: Success Strategies for Adults with ADHDIntegrative Treatment for Adult ADHD: A Practical, Easy to Use Guide for CliniciansADHD After Dark: Better Sex Life, Better RelationshipAbout 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 textIf an athlete on the high school varsity football, lacrosse, or soccer team happens to be more than typically distracted, taking too long, has become inconsistent with routines or happens to frequently doze off in history class, the teacher’s first assumption might be to question the student’s motivation and him hitting his head three weeks ago might be long forgotten. But the data shows that 12% of those children with a mild brain injury continue to have persistent symptoms beyond 1 year and it is vital that all those involved educating such children be informed about the nuances of this hidden epidemic.On this episode, Dr. Ann Glang, a special education researcher who for over 25 years has designed and studied interventions to support children and adolescents with TBI, educators, and families, will share how a brain injury as a condition differs from other disabilities and how best to support the needs of these students in the classroom and beyond. Considering the prevalence of traumatic brain injuries in children is on the rise, it is no surprise that they all end up in our schools and many in regular classrooms. By learning about the educational impact of such injuries to the brain, teachers and parents will gain the power and agency to make a difference in the life of every child.About Ann Glang, Ph.D.Dr. Ann Glang is a special education researcher who for over 25 years has designed and studied interventions to support children and adolescents with TBI, educators, and families. Dr. Glang has served as a principal investigator for numerous National Institutes of Health and Department of Education-funded projects in her role as a researcher and Director of the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training at University of Oregon.   Her research interests include childhood brain injury prevention and interventions for helping teachers and families support children and adolescents with brain injuries.Website:The Center on Brain Injury Research and TrainingAbout 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 greatest philosophical writings over the centuries have often examined the idea of the meaning of life. After the World War II, Viktor Frankl’s writing often explored the idea of the existential vacuum, which plagued those who entered the concentration camps giving them no reason to fight for life. What we realize now is that a sense of purpose and meaning plays a vital role as it offers protection from life’s undeniable hardships and discovering that purpose for oneself can be the meaningful journey in and of itself.On this episode, our guest William Damon, Ph.D., a professor and psychologist at the Stanford School of Education, says that stress isn’t the biggest problem growing up today: It’s meaninglessness. Tune into Sucheta’s interview with Dr. Damon as they discuss how to help children build meaning beyond themselves.About William Damon, Ph.D.William Damon is Professor of Education at Stanford University, Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is one of the world’s leading researchers on the development of purpose and author of The Path to Purpose. Damon’s other books include The Moral Child; Greater Expectations (winner of the Parent’s Choice Book Award); Some Do Care: Lives of Moral Commitment (with Anne Colby); Good Work (with Howard Gardner and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi); and The Power of Ideals: The Real Story of Moral Choice (also with Anne Colby). Damon’s present work includes a study that explores the development of purpose in the college years and a study of family purposes across generations. Damon has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.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 textTraveling through time, visiting imaginary places, witnessing wars and famines, and reliving crusades, is all made possible by reading. It engages visual imagination, invokes emotions, and challenges our preconceived notions and it single-handedly helps us change our mind.  The reading journey begins from making sense of a written word to gathering new information from English, science, or social studies texts to eventually connecting it all to one’s own knowledge, ideas, and beliefs. But such a profoundly relevant, complex, and meaningful learning process is often overlooked.On this episode, my guest Kelly Cartwright, Ph.D., who’s motto is “Good readers and good thinkers” joins us to discuss why educators must make every attempt to teach executive function skills to actively support reading comprehension.About Kelly B. Cartwright, Ph.D.Kelly B. Cartwright is Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Teacher Preparation at Christopher Newport University (CNU) where she directs the Reading, Executive function, and Development (READ) Lab. Kelly’s research explores the development of skilled reading comprehension and the neurocognitive and affective factors that underlie comprehension processes and difficulties from preschool through adulthood. Her work has appeared in Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Research in Developmental Disabilities, and a range of other research publications. Her books on reading comprehension include Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension: A Guide for Educators, Word Callers: Small-Group and One-to-One Interventions for Children who “Read” but Don’t Comprehend. and Literacy Processes: Cognitive Flexibility in Learning and Teaching, which was nominated for the Ed Fry Book Award in 2008. Kelly has served on the Board of Directors of the Literacy Research Association and was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research has been supported by grants from the Virginia State Reading Association and the United States Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Kelly regularly works with teachers in public and private schools throughout the US to better understand and improve reading comprehension for struggling readers, and these experiences inform her research.Websitehttps://kellycartwright.comBooksExecutive Skills and Reading Comprehension: A Guide for EducatorsWord Callers: Small-Group and One-to-One Interventions for Children who “Read” but Don’t UnderstandLiteracy Processes: Cognitive Flexibility in Learning and TeachingHelpful ResourcesExecutive-Level Thinking: Teaching 21st Century Skills for Effective Reading ComprehensionExecutive Function 101Activities Guide: Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to AdolescenceSupport the show

Send us a textOur lives have become so complex that surviving without shopping lists, calendars, scheduling apps, timers and alarms is nearly impossible. On top of that, sometimes, the information overload gets so out of hand that there’s no time left to pick our scattered selves up to set helpful systems up in the first place. In order to help raise organized and independent school-ready children it is important that parents do their bit that goes beyond just the neat and tidy homes.Tune in to today’s Big Picture episode as I discuss the myths surrounding developing the mastery of organization skills, the role of organization of space, time and tasks in successful goal-management, and the connection between an organized mind and an organized life.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 textRarely in a curriculum while learning, we ask children where they feel their emotions in their own bodies and whether those feeling change as their emotions change. Children who feel safe to tackle challenges, assured that they have the skills they need and are comfortable to seek help when needed, do well in school and life. Though in its early stage, research in contemplative studies and mindfulness practices is beginning to show a promising impact of such training on children’s emotional regulation and self-control.On this episode school psychologist, Debra A. Krodman-Collins, Ph.D., NSCP, RYT, co-author of S.T.O.P. and Relax; a yoga-based curriculum, will discuss how to use yoga-based self-calming techniques for school-aged children to conquer their primitive lizard brain with the wizardry of executive function. With focused and intentional effort to connect mind and body, one can master the mechanism that governs Executive Function.About Debra A. Krodman-Collins, Ph.D., NSCP, RYTDebra Krodman-Collins is a Florida licensed psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and Registered Yoga Teacher. Prior to her 30 years with Florida’s Broward County Schools, Dr. Collins served in Bermuda with the Child Development Project, Ministry of Education, and Education Planning Team. She taught psychology as an adjunct professor at Bermuda College and at Broward College. Dr. Collins’ work includes diagnostic evaluation of children’s learning and behavior, interventions to promote students’ progress, and trainings for psychologists, teachers, counselors and parents. She is co-author of S.T.O.P. and Relax.  This yoga-based curriculum equips teachers or therapists to use visual cues and physical exercises to teach self-calming to children with developmental disabilities such as autism.  The forthcoming book Stories of School Yoga: Narratives from the Field, expected from SUNY Press in September 2019, includes a chapter discussing her work. Most recently Dr. Collins has focused on training students and staff to support self-regulation of attention, emotions, and behavior.   Dr. Collins has conducted workshops for national and international conferences, including the Autism Society of America, Learning & the Brain, the Young Child Expo & Conference, and the International Conference on Autism, Intellectual Disability & Developmental Disabilities.Websiteswww.stopandrelax.netwww.stopandrelaxyoga.comBookS.T.O.P. and Relax – Your Special Needs Yoga ToolboxHelpful ResourcesBook: Yoga Therapy for Children with Autism and Special Needs, by Louise Goldberg, 2013Book: The Incredible 5-Point Scale, by Kari Dunn Buron, 2012Book: Stories of School Yoga: Narratives from the Field, edited by Dr. Andrea Hyde, 2019Article: Mindful Based Kindness CurriculumAbout 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 EdTSupport the show

Send us a textOther than air, what is invisible, omnipresent, affects every single human being and yet is taken for granted? The answer is the cultural norms. They are the unspoken rules of social behaviors and shared conventions that everyone is expected follow, but may be doing so without really connecting it to the WHY.On this episode, our guest, distinguished university professor and professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Michele Gelfand, Ph.D., discusses the concept of looser or tighter cultures and how our deep cultural programming shapes our views and informs our implicit understanding of what’s permissible in public versus private settings. In order to achieve goals we aspire, we need strong Executive Function and self-regulation skills that allow us to activate versus inhibit certain decisions and actions. However, without the true understanding of the social or cultural context or the understanding of social conventions, one might fail to comply because of having failed to code-switch.About Dr. Michele GelfandMichele Gelfand is Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Gelfand uses field, experimental, computational and neuroscience methods to understand the evolution of culture and its multilevel consequences. Her work has been published in outlets such as Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Psychological Science, Nature Scientific Reports, Nature Human behavior, PLOS 1, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Research in Organizational Behavior, Annual Review of Psychology, American Psychologist, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, among others.Gelfand is the founding co-editor of the Advances in Culture and Psychology annual series and Frontiers of Culture and Psychology series (with CY Chiu and Ying-Yi Hong, Oxford University Press). She is the Past President of the International Association for Conflict Management, Past Division Chair of the Conflict Division of the Academy of Management, Past Treasurer of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, and co-founder of the Society for the Study of Cultural Evolution. She received the 2016 Diener award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the 2017 Outstanding International Psychologist Award from the APA, the 2019 Outstanding Cultural Psychology Award from SPSP, the 2109 Science-Practitioner award from SIOP, and the Annaliese Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation which was given to 7 scientists worldwide for outstanding contributions in their fields. Her work that was published in Science was honored with the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.Websitewww.michelegelfand.comWiki Page – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_J._GelfandBookRule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire the WorldAbout 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 designedSupport the show

Send us a textOne shouldn’t be discouraged by the fact that learning is full of struggles as these struggles are inherent to the process of gathering facts, acquiring new knowledge, and gaining vivid insights. However, the struggles that go beyond a certain threshold built into learning should be examined and responded to. On this episode, author, life-long learner, and experienced educator, Kathleen Kryza, discusses the relationship between student struggles and the incorporation of brain-based differentiated instruction and cooperative learning to elevate the learner experience.About Kathleen KryzaKathleen Kryza is a life-long learner, an experienced educator and an outstanding presenter/coach/consultant. Kathleen is passionate, informed and committed to bringing the best educational practices to educators and parents so that they can help ALL children succeed.Kathleen is co-author of “Transformative Teaching: Changing Classroom Culturally, Emotionally and Academically.” (Solution Tree Press, Oct. 2015). She is also the co-author of Developing Growth Mindsets in the Inspiring Classroom, Inspiring Learners Press (2011) and the Corwin Press books, Inspiring Secondary Learners (2007), Inspiring Elementary Learners, (2008,) Differentiating in the Real Classroom (2009), Winning Strategies for Test Taking (2009).  Kathleen is featured in the video, Differentiating Instruction in the Intermediate Grades, Bureau of Education and Research (BER), 2008.Kathleen has a Masters Degree in Special Education, and a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education.  She has also done extensive training over the years with giants in the field on topics such as differentiated instruction, brain-based learning, cooperative learning, co-teaching, coaching, and content literacy. She has presented for school districts locally, nationally, and internationally for over 30 years on various educational and motivational topics.Websitewww.kathleenkryza.comBooksTransformative Teaching: Changing Classroom Culturally, Emotionally and Academically(Solution Tree Press, Oct. 2015)Developing Growth Mindsets in the Inspiring Classroom, Inspiring Learners Press (2011)Inspiring Secondary Learners (Corwin, 2007)Inspiring Elementary Learners (Corwin, 2009)Winning Strategies for Test Taking (Corwin, 2009)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