Resources

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

Every student knows the feeling: you're sitting in class, trying to pay attention, and suddenly you realize you have no idea what the teacher just said. Your mind wandered off to lunch, or last weekend, or that thing your friend said at recess. And then comes the familiar thought: What makes me so distracted? Here's what every child—and every teacher—needs to know:   Attention shifts from moment to moment. When you raise your awareness of when you are focused and why your bra

We enjoyed an engaging webinar on the role of music and movement in cognition and learning with Alex Doman at Advance Brain Technologies. When we strengthen the brain through rhythm and music, children build the skills they need to succeed in school, relationships, and daily life. 🔸 Why rhythm is the foundation for language, cognition, and social connection 🔸 How music helps children regulate emotions and build focus 🔸 Everyday activities that combine movement and rhythm t

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

Cognitivities Help Children Self-Regulate The human brain and music share an ancient relationship. When humans listen to or engage with music, multiple brain regions activate simultaneously in a neural symphony of their own (Toader et al., 2023). This is particularly significant for children as their brains are in an important period of development, forming neural connections at an astonishing rate, particularly in areas related to language, emotional regulation, and executiv

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

Written By Dr. Lynne Kenney, PsyD for Fit & Fun Playscapes  via ... Self-regulation is a core executive function skill associated with academic achievement, learning, behavior, and successful social relationships in children. Self-regulation is generally defined as the ability to manage one’s thoughts, behaviors, and feelings to achieve goal-directed behaviors. Self-regulation is so important that, for many children, it is a better predictor of early academic success than is

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

Over the past 20 years, we have developed engaging cognitive-motor & executive function activities to help clinicians and educators who work with neurodiverse children to stimulate self-regulation, self-control, response inhibition, attention, and memory. Current studies on the relationship between executive function and emergent academic skills in preschoolers, kindergartners, and older children have shown that executive function significantly relates to both mathematics and