Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

Send us a textWe are often astonished to read or hear in the news about a kid who grabs a classmate’s hair, or snatches food from their tray, or even kicks their teacher. The average person might focus on the obvious disrespectful and unacceptable in-school behaviors. However, we will be missing point if we think that kids should come to school already fully knowing how to behave “properly”. Instead, we need to receive them with open arms, find out what they can do, and provide them with the necessary help to teach them what they don’t yet know.On this episode, Dr. Cheryl Rice, a Behavior Intervention Specialist and a Certified Instructor of Mindset Non-violent Crisis Intervention (De-escalation) Training for Educator shares what’s at the heart of meeting kids where they are in order to advance educator-learner interactions to shape nurturing learning communities. About Cheryl RiceCheryl Rice has been a Special Education Teacher for over 20 years. Currently, she is a Behavior Intervention Specialist for public school elementary students grades prek through 5th. Cheryl has her Masters and Education Specialist degrees in Education, with an emphasis on working with Young Children with Special Needs. She has a National Board Certification in the area of Young Children with Special Needs. Cheryl was an Adjunct Professor at Valdosta State University in Special Education Department. She completed her Doctoral Studies in the area of School Improvement with an emphasis on Educational Leadership.Cheryl is a Certified Instructor of Mindset Non-violent Crisis Intervention (Deescalation) Training for Educators. She is also an Early Intervention Specialist for Georgia Department of Education through GA PINES (Parent and Infant Network for Early Intervention Services). Finally, Cheryl is a lifelong resident of Georgia and a mother of 2 grown boys.Helpful Books:Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence and Chronic StressEngaging Students with Poverty in MindRelationship, Responsibility, and Regulation: Trauma-Invested Practices for Fostering Resilient LearnersHanging In: Strategies for Teaching the Students Who Challenge Us MostAbout 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 no generation like Gen Z whose stressors have been quadrupled by the times they have grown up in - the economic dotcom burst, highly skilled stressed out parents always in-between jobs, anxiety of a flattening world, and a technology/social-media enabled personal life. Naturally, the question emerges as to how do we help this generation of kids master their executive function and help them strive for personal self-sufficiency in spite of all the things considered.On this episode, Founder & CEO of Growing Leaders and prolific author of more than 30 books, Dr. Tim Elmore shares how best to empower Gen Y and Gen Z to focus on growing from within.About Dr. Tim ElmoreDr. Tim Elmore, Founder & CEO of Growing Leaders, is a world-renowned expert on leadership as well as Generation Y and Generation Z. He uses his knowledge to equip educators, coaches, leaders, parents, and business leaders to impart practical life and leadership skills to young adults. He has trained thousands of leaders in partnership with nationally renowned schools and organizations like the Kansas City Royals, Stanford University, University of Alabama, National Football League, Ohio State University’s Athletic Department, Chick-fil-A, and more. Dr. Elmore has also authored more than 30 books including the best-selling curriculum – Habitudes®: Images that Form Leadership Habits and Attitudes.Websites:https://growingleaders.com/https://growingleaders.com/homechats/https://growingleaders.com/blog/https://www.generationzunfiltered.com/Book:Generation Z Unfiltered 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 is more invigorating than watching a young mind at work. Fascinated by curiosity and deeply enthralled in untangling its pieces, learning brings joy and satisfaction to both the teacher and the learner. But how does one make sure that the learner falls in love with learning? How much of that is the responsibility of an educator versus a parent versus a student himself? And what are the ways to lay out a blueprint for increasing learner autonomy and locus of control so that it directly influences a student’s personal achievement?On this episode, award winning educator, professor of engineering, and co-creator of the largest online MOOK Coursera class called “Learning How to Learn,” Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., discusses the neural scaffolding involved in information processing, memory formation, and learning. Dr. Oakley’s insights expands upon the quote by Brian Herbert, “The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” About Barbara Oakley, Ph.D.Barbara Oakley, PhD, PE is a Professor of Engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan; the Ramón y Cajal Distinguished Scholar of Global Digital Learning at McMaster University; and Coursera’s inaugural “Innovation Instructor.” Her work focuses on the complex relationship between neuroscience and social behavior. Dr. Oakley’s research has been described as “revolutionary” in the Wall Street Journal—she has published in outlets as varied as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the American Society of Engineering Education’s Chester F. Carlson Award for technical innovation in engineering education. Together with Terrence Sejnowski, the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute, she co-teaches Coursera – UC San Diego’s “Learning How to Learn,” the world’s most popular massive open online course. Website:https://BarbaraOakley.com/Books:A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and TeensAbout 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 textDo emotions mess up clear headed thinking? For centuries, culture and science has dismissed the value of emotions when it came to thinking about intelligence, learning, and critical thinking. This may have led to classrooms with a certain level of sterility and emotional reciprocity. Instead however, by focusing on how students feel, what emotional connections they make during their learning experiences, and how they translate that experience into a personal narrative is proving to be at the heart of transformative personal growth. On this episode Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, and founding director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, discusses what creates a tapestry of rewarding and engaging learning experiences for all kinds of learners. Through her work she suggests, “learning is dynamic, social and context-dependent because emotions are, and emotions form a critical piece of how, what, when and why people think, remember and learn.” About Mary Helen Immordino-YangMary Helen Immordino-Yang is a Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, and the founding director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education. She studies the psychological and neurobiological development of emotion and self-awareness, and connections to social, cognitive and moral development in educational settings. She uses cross-cultural, interdisciplinary studies of narratives and feelings to uncover experience-dependent neural mechanisms contributing to identity, intrinsic motivation, deep learning, and generative, creative and abstract thought. Her work has a special focus on adolescents from low-SES communities, and she involves youths from these communities as junior scientists in her work.She has received numerous awards for her research and for her impact on education and society, among them an Honor Coin from the U.S. Army, a Commendation from the County of Los Angeles, a Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences editorial board, and early career achievement awards from the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association of Psychological Science (APS), the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES), and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences Foundation (FABBS).Immordino-Yang was a Spencer Foundation mid-career fellow. She served on the U.S. National Academy of Sciences committee writing How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts and Cultures https://www.nap.edu/read/24783/, and on the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development, writing: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/the-brain-basis-for-integrated-social-emotional-and-academic-development/Website:http://candle.usc.edu/Books & Articles:Emotions, Learning and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective NeuroscienceThe Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic DevelopmentAbout Host, SuchetSupport the show

Send us a textWhen talking about independence and self-sufficiency in their students, educators often use the term “Personal Responsibility” which refers to the set of mental skills that neuroscience describes to be Executive Function. Teachers recognize that in order to develop a level of independence and agency, educators must have a plan to transfer the “process tools” from the teacher to the students just as a relay-race runner passes his baton to the athlete that follows him. The question is, how do teachers create and foster a learning environment that centers around facilitating a sense of personal responsibility in children while helping them build their knowledge? On this episode, educator, researcher, author, and member of the California Reading Hall of Fame, Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. discusses the role of Executive Function in teaching and learning and how his highly specialized Gradual Release of Responsibility Modelprompts students towards greater autonomy and self-initiation. Finally, he discusses how essential it is to understand the tools and strategies deployed to move learning from the surface to something more deep and meaningful.About Doug Fisher, Ph.D.Douglas Fisher is Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association William S. Grey citation of merit, an Exemplary Leader award from the Conference on English Leadership of NCTE, as well as a Christa McAuliffe award for excellence in teacher education. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Building Equity, and Assessment-capable Learners.Website:www.fisherandfrey.comBooks:PLC+: Better Decisions Greater Impact by DesignBuilding EquityBecoming an Assessment-Capable LearnerAbout 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 textHaving difficulties can be discouraging and counterproductive. Children with ADHD experience far more defeats and discouragements compared to their counterparts. It’s no surprise that promote thriving in struggling learners depends on the right support, the right tools, but above all, the right environment that conveys a message of acceptance and hope.On this episode, our guest, Sharon Saline, Psy.D., an author and a clinical psychologist, discusses the unique needs created by the dopamine deficient ADHD brain and how best to coach, train, and support these brains to summon extra dopamine for something they don’t love or care.About Sharon Saline, Psy.D.Sharon Saline, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and author of the award-winning book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life  and The ADHD Solution Card Deck specializes in how ADHD, learning disabilities and mental health issues affect children, teens, young adults and families. She helps families navigate the confusing maze of information, emotions, stress and conflict related to ADHD, appreciate the positive aspects of living with ADHD and create successful dialogues, interventions and connections.Dr. Saline has also worked extensively with schools and educators on understanding and assessing mental health issues in the classroom. An internationally sought-after lecturer and workshop facilitator known for combining her expertise in psychology with a background in theater, she addresses topics such as understanding ADHD and executive functioning, discovering new tools for managing anxiety, making sense of the teen brain and working with different kinds of learners. Dr. Saline is a regular columnist for ADDitudemag.com and Psychologytoday.com and is a part-time lecturer in the Continuing Education Program at the Smith School for Social Work. She appears monthly on WWLP’s Mass Appeal show as their resident child and family psychologist. A magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, she received her master’s degree in psychology from New College of California and her doctorate in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant University.Website: www.drsharonsaline.comBooks: What your ADHD child wishes you knew: Empowering kids for success in school and lifeThe ADHD solution card deckAbout 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 cooking, fishing, putting together a bookshelf, and a fixing a wall mount in the garage for your bike have in common? They are far easier to do by yourself than to teach it to someone. Those who teach recognize the challenge in going beyond learner engagement and external rewards or punishment; instead setting learners’ intrinsic motivation on fire by making them curious and engaged children.On this episode cognitive psychologist, prolific author, columnist for American Educator magazine, and professor of psychology, Daniel Willingham highlights the applicability of the fundamental principles from cognitive psychology and neuroscience which, when understood, can create a tapestry of successful and pleasurable learning experiences for all.About Daniel WillinghamDaniel Willingham earned his B.A. from Duke University in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Harvard University in 1990. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1992. Until about 2000, his research focused solely on the brain basis of learning and memory. Today, all of his research concerns the application of cognitive psychology to K-16 education.He writes the “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” column for American Educator magazine, and is the author of Why Don’t Students Like School?, When Can You Trust the Experts?, Raising Kids Who Read, and The Reading Mind. His writing on education has appeared in sixteen languages.​In 2017 he was appointed by President Obama to serve as a Member of the National Board for Education Sciences.Website:www.danielwillingham.comBooks:The Reading MindRaising Kids Who ReadWhen Can You Trust the Experts?Why Don’t Students Like School?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 textVincent van Gogh once wrote, “If I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost. That is how I look at it – keep going, keep going come what may.” Of course, this kind of striving and searching van Gogh is referring to is likely to guarantee one thing and that one thing is – encountering unsurmountable challenges. Sometimes we don’t even go looking, but still face unsurmountable challenges like right now, during this pandemic. Everyone can benefit from successful ways to cope with and rise above challenges. Group of peoples together can handle challenging and extraordinary times.On this episode, our host Sucheta Kamath, talks about one such particular group – families! She answers questions such as, how do families ride the wave of crisis, challenges and come to the other side with integrity and resilience? Tune in today to discover the characteristics of a resilient family unit which survives and emerges safe, sane, and even skilled.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 textChildren are an enigma! Full of surprises and full of promise. However, one can be easily baffled when their boisterous high energy turns into an unmanageable rambunctiousness disrupting the household and relationships. Until recently, it was unconceivable for kids to have a mental disorder which made it hard to navigate the impact of various conditions on overall behaviors; particularly, maladaptive dysregulation.On this episode, our guest, developmental and behavioral pediatrician and author, Dr. Raun D. Melmed, discusses the overlap and distinctions between the two most common and co-occurring developmental disabilities: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Every child deserves the experts to use their discerning eye to evaluate critical factors in the child’s history and then arrive at the right diagnosis to formulate a plan that is likely to work.About Dr. Raun MelmedRaun D. Melmed, MD, FAAP, developmental and behavioral pediatrician, is director of the Melmed Center in Scottsdale, Arizona and co-founder and medical director of the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center in Phoenix. He is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona and on faculty at Arizona State University.Dr. Melmed is an investigator of novel therapeutic agents in the treatment of autism, Fragile X, Angelman’s disorder and ADHD and collaborates on studies of tools used in the early diagnosis of developmental disorders.He is the author of Autism: Early Intervention; Autism and the Extended Family; and the ST4 Mindfulness Book for Kids series including Marvin’s Monster Diary – ADHD Attacks, Timmy’s Monster Diary: Screen Time Attacks!, Harriet’s Monster Diary – Awfully Anxious, Marvin’s Monster Diary 2 (+ Lyssa): ADHD Emotion Explosion (But I Triumph, Big Time), and soon to be released, Marvin’s Monster Diary 3: Trouble with Friends (But I Get By, Big Time!). )Website:www.MelmedCenter.comBooks:Autism: Early InterventionAutism and the Extended FamilyST4 Mindfulness Book for Kids series includingMarvin’s Monster Diary – ADHD AttacksTimmy’s Monster Diary: Screen Time Attacks!Harriet’s Monster Diary – Awfully AnxiousMarvin’s Monster Diary 2 (+ Lyssa): ADHD Emotion Explosion (But I Triumph, Big Time)Marvin’s Monster Diary 3: Trouble with Friends (But I Get By, Big Time!)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 strategicSupport the show

Send us a textThe struggles of kids with ADHD are unmistakably unique and undoubtedly complex, but their lack of mental readiness to accept help is equally confusing. Nothing is more discouraging or draining for educators and parents than kids who resist direction instead of leaning into the help they receive. Since disrupted executive function in ADHD kids often interferes with their ability to accomplish tasks and manage personal success, their transition into young adulthood does not resemble that of the pre-teens and teens without ADHD and hence they need the help to work for them.On this episode, Margaret Sibley, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and a licensed clinical psychologist, shares her insights into the motivational and executive function difficulties in adolescents and young adults with ADHD. She discusses how best to develop both the skills to manage ADHD symptoms and the skills essential for transitioning into young adulthood.About Professor Margaret Sibley, Ph.D.Margaret Sibley is a licensed clinical psychologist and researcher on executive function and motivation difficulties in adolescents and young adults. She directs programs of research in Miami (Florida International University) and Seattle (Seattle Children’s Hospital). Dr. Sibley is the author of Parent-Teen Therapy for Executive Function Deficits and ADHD: Building Skills and Motivation. She has published over 75 scientific articles on ADHD and related disorders. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Education, and the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation. Dr. Sibley is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and an expert on parent-teen collaborative and peer-delivered treatments for adolescents with ADHD.Website:www.margaretsibley.comBook:Parent-Teen Therapy for Executive Function Deficits and ADHD: Building Skills and MotivationAbout 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