Resources

Let's SING to LEARN! If you have been to any of my executive function workshops, you know I love to sing songs with students to teach them about their self-regulation, attention, memory, planning, and cognitive flexibility. Moving and singing in time with peers provides a valuable opportunity to practice beat competency, self-regulation, and focused attention. Music naturally engages multiple attention and memory systems simultaneously. When cognitive skill lessons are embedd

Just in case my newsletter today didn't reach you, here is what I shared with our executive function community. Good Day Colleagues, It's a beautiful day for sharing resources with you all to support children's cognition and learning. We finished our Executive Function curriculum for the classroom. It's heading to the publisher for design. Can't wait to share that with you. I hired a wonderful artist to design the "My Attention Engine" storybook that goes with our FREE Exe

One of my favorite topics to discuss with students is the importance of their Attention Engines. We wrote a song about this, and we now have a downloadable lyrics book to accompany it. Soon, we will also publish a children's book with a story you can read with your students. I'll never forget the day I sang the chorus to Attention Engine with a student, and he replied with a hand on his hips, "Dr. Lynne, why didn't anyone ever tell me about my attention cycle?" Click the imag

Physical activity, neuroplasticity, and brain growth are interconnected elements in childhood development. Regular physical activity stimulates neural growth and strengthens connections between brain regions, enhancing cognitive function, learning ability, and emotional regulation. Our students need to physically move 2-5 minutes every 45 minutes in class to prime the brain for learning. Our next book about movement, music, and cognition will include over 50 activities for yo

Steven G. Feifer D.Ed. Shared with the permission of Jack Hirose & Associates According to a recent survey conducted by the Canadian Mental Health and Access to Care (2022), more than 5 million Canadians were experiencing symptoms of mental illness in the aftermath of the world-wide pandemic.  Unfortunately, the mental health of children was disproportionately impacted by the pandemic as well, due primarily to extended disruptions in education, as well as forced social distan

Teaching children how to slow down enhances self-regulation. Today on our Executive Function Festival on Instagram and Facebook, we are doing some cognitive-motor activities to enhance self-regulation. Here are some of the benefits of motor movement for calming. https://www.instagram.com/drlynnekenney Engaging children and adolescents through rhythm - The benefits of coordinative cognitive rhythmic movement for children's self-regulation include: Activating executive function

Lynne Kenney, PsyD & Alice Li, BS Boston College Recently an occupational therapist who attended our executive function workshop in Toronto, Canada wrote to ask how I view the difference between visual-perceptual and visual-spatial skills. This got me reflecting and looking into the science. In clinical practice, I usually view visual-perceptual skills as the ability to orient in space, interact with objects such as balls, bean bags, cones, and physical objects, and the abili

Teachers, clinicians, and parents are often looking for simple and effective ways to help children practice self-regulation, self-control, attention, and response inhibition; skill sets essential to successful learning and behavior. Self-regulation is the ability to manage one's thoughts, behaviors, and emotions to achieve goal-directed prosocial behaviors. Children’s ability to self-regulate (exercise control over their dominant impulses; calm themselves when over-energized)

When we think of music, often what comes to mind, is a song. We may think of Broadway musicals, Bach, or Taylor Swift. In our minds, songs may play throughout the day. Music is a universal language    central to civilization for thousands of years. Before we had language, we used musical tones and sounds to communicate. The tone of a grunt signaled a message from our prehistoric ancestors, while the beat of a drum brought village people together in unity far and wide. What w