Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

Send us a textThe highest rent you’ll ever pay is for the hurts, sorrows, and unforgiveness that occupy the space in your heart and mind. While thinking of those hurtful breakups, toxic relationships, unresolved lies, or the unrepairable damaging acts of others, it may be hard to channel the wisdom of poet Edwin Hubbel Chapin, "Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge.” However, what ancient wisdom already has known, the research now shows that there's an extraordinary healing power in taking steps to forgive others and even yourself.On this episode, Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, clinical psychologist, and author, Dr. Everett Worthington, Ph.D., discusses how forgiveness is a choice and a skill that can emerge with appropriate mental framing and psychological and prosocial practices.About Everett L Worthington, JrEverett Worthington, Ph.D., is Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a Faculty Affiliate appointment at the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (Human Flourishing Program). He continues to be active in research and speaking around the world. He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia. He has published over 40 books and around 500 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, humility and positive psychology, marriage, and family topics, and religion and spirituality. He also has developed the REACH Forgiveness model being tested currently in a global grant-funded randomized controlled trials in 5 countries (six sites), and he has developed numerous other positive psychological interventions.Website: www.EvWorthington-forgiveness.com Books: Forgiving and reconciling: Bridges to wholeness and hopeHeroic humility: What the science of humility can say to people raised on self focusHow do I forgive? (A brief pamphlet)Moving forward: Six steps to forgiving yourself and breaking free from the pastThe power of forgivingAbout 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 is an intriguing difference between a four-year-old's versus a forty-year old’s approach to the world? Only one of them is inquisitive and inventive with a rich inner explorer. However, by the time the curious and inventive four-year-old enters their late teens, there is a remarkable depletion in their sense of exploration. There’s something about the way we educate and raise children that drains their inquiring minds from investigating life’s mysteries and tackling problems that interest them.On this episode, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College and author of multiple books including The Intellectual Lives of Children, Dr. Susan Engel, discusses what fuels children’s curiosity: a sense of inquiry and inventiveness. To raise self-sufficient children who possess strong executive function means to figure out ways to hang back while nurturing their inner Dora the Explorer.About Susan EngelSusan Engel is Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She is co-founder of an experimental school in NY State, where she was the educational advisor for 18 years. Her research interests include the development of narrative, curiosity, and invention. Her current research examines how children pursue ideas. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Cognitive Development, Harvard Educational Review, and the American Education Research Journal. Her writing on education has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg View, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, Salon, Huffington Post, and The Boston Globe. Her books include: The End of the Rainbow: How educating for happiness (not money) would transform our schools, The Hungry Mind: The origins of curiosity in childhood, and The Children You Teach: Using a Developmental Framework in the Classroom. Her ninth book, The Intellectual Lives of Children, was published by Harvard University Press, this past January.  She and her husband Tom have three sons and two very young grandchildren. Books: The Intellectual Lives of ChildrenThe Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in ChildhoodThe End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness (Not Money) Would Transform Our SchoolsAbout 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 textEntering a space full of strangers can be as scary as entering a snake pit. The brain cannot help but think “oh-no” and is likely to look for an exit strategy. Even though humans are social creatures, approaching or engaging with strangers invokes unparalleled fear or social anxiety that keeps us from making connections, sharing, or seeking help. Is this hesitation to talk with strangers legit and true?On this episode, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex and introvert who has grown to love talking to strangers in her Twitter series #Talking2Strangers, Dr. Gillian Sandstrom, discusses how blind we are to the positive effects of interacting with strangers, and how there’s a way to shift and pivot from such mindsets to grow to making more meaningful connections with the world around us.  About Dr. Gillian SandstromDr. Gillian Sandstrom is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. She studies the benefits of and barriers to having minimal social interactions, with people like strangers and weak ties (i.e., acquaintances). She is an introvert who has grown to love talking to strangers. She shares her stories of #Talking2Strangers on Twitter @GillianSocial, in the hopes of encouraging more people to reach out and connect.Website:https://www.gilliansandstrom.comRecommended Books: The Power of Strangers, by Joe KeohaneWe Need to Talk, by Celeste HeadleeSorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come, by Jessica Panhttps://hbr.org/2020/04/why-you-miss-those-casual-friends-so-muchAbout 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 textBritish author Somerset Maugham once wrote, “What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories.” Writers and poets have a lot to say about reminiscing, contemplation, regret and nostalgia, but it often suggests that one must travel far down the road of life to arrive at that point where suddenly our life decisions say more about who we are rather than what we did!On this episode, professor at Stanford University, director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and leading scholar of human development across the lifespan and  author of A Round of Golf With My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace With Your Present, William Damon, discusses why the process of Life-Review is a productive way of looking back. Since Executive Function skills provide the guardrail for self-regulated future-forward thinking, the Life-Review process can prove to be a painful or invigorating process depending on our openness to self-change, capacity to admit mistakes, and desire to stay connected to the past-self to shape the journey of the future self.About William DamonWilliam Damon is a professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence. He is a leading scholar of human development across the lifespan and the author of The Path to Purpose. His recent book, A Round of Golf with my Father: The New Psychology of Exploring your Life to Make Peace with Your Present, is an examination of using a life review to renew personal identity and forge a purposeful direction moving forward. Damon is a fellow in the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Damon has been named by Best Schools as one of the fifty most influential living psychologists in the world today. Website:https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/wdamonBooks: A Round of Golf with my Father: The New Psychology of Exploring your Past to Make Peace with your PresentThe Path to PurposeAbout 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 textHelping children develop their identity is integral to making them self-sufficient and independent, as well as to master their Executive Function skills. In addition to children’s cognitive, linguistic, and emotional development, parents and educators alike must understand the social science behind the development of racial, ethnic, and cultural identities, which play a major role in shaping a child’s lens on life and how they relate to other racial and ethnic groups different than their own.On this episode, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum—President Emerita at Spelman College, a clinical psychologist, and the author of several books including the best-selling book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, discusses racial identity development among children growing up in the U.S.. Throughout this conversation, she brings to life a crucial perspective raised in her book that “people, by being ignorant or unaware of race, can unwittingly perpetuate a cycle of oppression.”.About Dr. Beverly Daniel TatumDr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita of Spelman College, is a clinical psychologist widely known for her expertise on race relations and as a leader in higher education.  In 2013 she was recognized with the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award.  Author of several books including the best-selling “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations About Race, she was the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. A civic leader in the Atlanta community, Dr. Tatum serves on the boards of Westside Future Fund, Achieve Atlanta, Morehouse College and the Tull Charitable Foundation.  She is also a trustee of Sesame Workshop, Smith College and the Educational Testing Service.She holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan as well as an M.A. in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary.  Website:http://www.BeverlyDanielTatum.comBooks: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About RaceCan We Talk About Race? and Other Conversations in an Era of School ResegregationAssimilation Blues: Black Families in White CommunitiesAbout 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’s the urgent and yet preventable crisis in America? It’s poverty! The discussion about the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, down-regulation of amygdala as well as the flourishing of Executive Function skills throughout childhood is incomplete when according to the Children’s Defense Fund one in six children in United States live in poverty. The impact of poverty is deep and wide taking not only a biological, psychological, and social toll on children but also on the nation’s GDP in lost productivity, diminished health outcomes, and even elevated crime rates. On this episode, the nation’s leading authority on resiliency and applied brain science,  educational consultant, and author of many books including The Poverty Problem, Horacio Sanchez discusses how building resiliency in children must include assisting them to form meaningful connections and build close relationships. By supporting kids during  critical times, we can activate the protective factors and strengthen their Executive Function in spite of the vast array of negative experiences of economic and other hardships.About Horacio SanchezHoracio Sanchez is a highly sought-after speaker and educational consultant, helping schools learn to apply neuroscience to improve educational outcomes.  He presents on diverse topics such as overcoming the impact of poverty, improving school climate, engaging in brain-based instruction, and addressing issues related to implicit bias. He is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on resiliency and applied brain science.Horacio has been a teacher, administrator, clinician, mental health director, and consultant to school districts across the United States. Horacio sits on the True Health Initiative Council of Directors, a coalition of more than 250 world-renowned health experts, committed to educating on proven principles of lifestyle as medicine. He is the author of the best-selling book, The Education Revolution, which applies brain science to improve instruction, behaviors, and school climate.  His new book, The Poverty Problem, explains how education can promote resilience and counter poverty’s impact on brain development and functioning.Website:https://www.resiliencyinc.comBooks: The Poverty ProblemThe Education RevolutionHelpful Articles:Poverty's Impact on Reading https://corwin-connect.com/2021/01/povertys-impact-on-reading/Do Students Really Learn From Failure https://corwin-connect.com/2017/09/students-really-learn-failures/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 textDouglas Horton has said, “While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself.” Nothing is quite as satisfying as well-executed revenge where by taking  justice into one’s own hands feels empowering, quenching the thirst for fairness. However, there’s another option;  conventional wisdom often refers to as taking the higher road; letting the better-self win against the catty, shallow, and spiteful self. So why do we struggle to forgive?On this episode, Professor of Psychology,  Director of Training for the Counseling Psychology Program, and Founding Director of Network Community Counseling Services, Nathaniel Wade, Ph.D., discusses forgiveness as a mechanism for successful emotional, cognitive, and even spiritual coping when dealing with hurt and the transgressions of others. While forgiveness marks emotional maturation and symbolizes personal healing it is as much of an art as science!About Nathaniel WadeNathaniel Wade received his PhD from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003 and joined Iowa State that same year. He is a Professor of Psychology, the Director of Training for the Counseling Psychology Program, and Founding Director of Network Community Counseling Services. He is also a licensed Psychologist in the state of Iowa. Dr. Wade’s research interests center on the processes and outcomes of psychotherapy. Specifically, he has worked in the area of developing and testing interventions to promote forgiveness, understanding the impact of integrating religion and spirituality into psychotherapy, and exploring and developing interventions to reduce the stigma associated with seeking counseling. He has published over 100 articles and book chapters, he is co-editor of two scholarly Handbooks, and has received grant funding from federal and private granting agencies. When not working, Dr. Wade spends time with his family and loves to pretend he is still in his 20’s and plays soccer each week.Books: Handbook of Forgiveness, Second Edition (2020)Cambridge Handbook of Stigma and Mental Health (upcoming)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 text“I like you exactly the way you are.” These are the words brought to life by beloved TV host, Fred Rogers, and seems to be exactly what children need to know and experience that they are valued and loved. As  culture has taken the time to pause and reflect on the powerful teachings of Mr. Rogers in the heavily consumed medium of television, the evidence in the neuroscience, learning, and developmental psychology shows how deeply effective his methodologies have been all along. With multiple documentaries, a bestselling biography, and a movie starring Tom Hanks, the world of child rearing and education has seen a Mister Rogers’ renaissance over the past few years and it is time to take these lessons to heart.On this episode, authors of the book When You Wonder, You're Learning, Gregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation and science and education writer Ryan Rydzewski discuss “the Fred method”, a blueprint left behind by Mr. Fred Rogers that honors the potential in every child to come into oneself. Pause, reflect and then respond is a primary lesson fervently put into practice by Mr. Rogers and also seems to be the practice that promotes executive function and self-agency in every child.About Gregg BehrGregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation, is a father and children’s advocate whose work is inspired by his hero, Fred Rogers. For more than a decade, he has helped lead Remake Learning—a network of educators, scientists, artists, and makers he founded in 2007—to international renown. Formed in Rogers’ real-life neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Remake Learning has turned heads everywhere from Forbes to the World Economic Forum for its efforts to ignite children’s curiosity, encourage creativity, and foster justice and belonging in schools, libraries, museums, and more. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and also Duke University, Gregg holds honorary degrees from Carlow University and Saint Vincent College. He’s an advisor to the Brookings Institution and the Fred Rogers Center, and has been cited by Barack Obama, Richard Branson, and the Disruptor Foundation as an innovator and thought leader.About Ryan RydzewskiRyan Rydzewski is a writer whose science and education reporting has garnered several awards and fellowships. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, he taught elementary school in south Louisiana before earning an MFA in nonfiction writing from Chatham University. As a freelancer, his magazine stories focus on everything from schools to space travel to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and his poems and other pieces appear in several journals. A native of Erie, Pennsylvania, Ryan lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Jacqueline. Book: When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring KidsWebsites:https://www.whenyouwonder.orghttps://www.ryanrydzewski.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 textConventional wisdom propels the notion that children from low-income backgrounds perform poorly because their families are less invested or do not value education as much as those from higher-income backgrounds. However, by applying a sociological framework to education, the evidence shows that schools, instead of contributing to the breaking of economic and social barriers, are actively widening the achievement gap by furthering inequalities. How do we rethink these challenges and actualize our belief that all students are brimming with the same potential to develop an internal drive and curiosity for learning? Fostering a child’s agency means helping them to help themselves in such a way that they can overcome obstacles and create positive changes in their own lives.On this episode, education sociologist, professor of Educational Leadership at Florida International University, and author of “The Power of Student Agency”, Anindya Kundu, Ph.D., discusses how to help educators and stakeholders build practical resources that enhance children’s lives while inspiring them to take learning into their own hands. No matter how diverse students’ backgrounds may be, all students possess the capacity to leverage resources and master their own Executive Function in order to navigate a world of uncertainty and challenge through a cultivated sense of agency. About Dr. Anindya KunduAnindya Kundu is an acclaimed education sociologist and incoming professor of Educational Leadership at Florida International University. His book, The Power of Student Agency, has been touted as a critical and practical resource for educators and stakeholders in the lives of children. Anindya studies how students overcome challenges and the support systems that help all young people thrive. He is an award winning educator who believes that collective responsibility is what will help us improve our systems of education.Website:https://www.AnindyaKundu.comBook: The Power of Student Agency: Looking Beyond Grit to Close the Opportunity GapAbout 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 textWhen the New York Times in a student opinion piece asked “How do you think American education could be improved?”, Skye Williams from Sarasota, Florida wrote, ”I think that the American education system can be improved by allowing students to choose the classes that they wish to take or classes that are beneficial for their future. Students aren’t really learning things that can help them in the future such as basic reading and math.” Skye’s comment captures the fact that schooling experiences of American children is far from homogenous and the multitudes of factors that shape their beliefs, behaviors, performance, and identities vary dramatically based on the context, systems, and learning environments. On this episode, Senior Research Associate and Director of the Equitable Learning and Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, Camille Farrington, Ph.D., discusses how school structures and teacher practices can and do empower young learners to make sense of their daily schooling experiences and help transform them into well-prepared young adults. About Camille A FarringtonCamille A. Farrington is a Senior Research Associate and Director of the Equitable Learning & Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Her work focuses on understanding learning environments as constructed, developmental spaces in the context of systemic racism and inequality. She seeks to understand how young people make sense of daily schooling experiences and how school structures and teacher practices shape students’ beliefs, behaviors, identities, performance, and development.  As a principal investigator for the Equitable Learning & Development Project/Next System Learning Collaborative and the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network, she collaborates with educators, scholars, students, and families to reimagine and transform public education to support human learning, development, and well-being. Camille’s publications include Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework (2015); Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance (2012); and Failing at School: Lessons for Redesigning Urban High Schools (2014). Camille’s research draws on her 15-year experience as a public high school teacher. She holds a BA from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Website:https://consortium.uchicago.edu/equitable_learning_and_developmentHelpful Articles:Measure Learning Environments, NotJust Students, to Support Learning and DevelopmentAcademic Mindsets as a Critical Component of Deeper Learning 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 Support the show