Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function (external website)
Working Paper #11
Center on the Developing Child | Harvard University
This joint Working Paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs explains how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life.
Cognitive Development Domain (external website)
California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Foundations
This article describes cognitive development including foundations such as cause-and-effect, spatial relations, problem solving, imitation, memory, number sense, classification, symbolic play, attention maintenance, and understanding of personal care routines.
Early Experiences Can Alter Gene Expression and Affect Long-Term Development (external website)
Working Paper #10
Center on the Developing Child | Harvard University
The experiences children have early in life—and the environments in which they have them—shape their developing brain architecture and strongly affect whether they grow up to be healthy, productive members of society. This working paper summarizes new scientific research that shows that environmental influences can actually affect whether and how genes are expressed.
Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence (external website)
Center on the Developing Child | Harvard University
This 16-page guide (available for download) describes a variety of activities and games that represent age-appropriate ways for adults to support and strengthen various components of executive function and self-regulation in children.
Cognitive and executive functions begin developing during very early childhood and are affected by a young child’s environment and everyday interactions. The healthy development of skills associated with cognition and executive functioning are thought to be among the most important for a child’s success later in life. The cognitive area of development describes how a child acquires knowledge, thinks and learns about his or her environment. Executive functioning refers to how children regulate their behavior, attention, persistence, problem-solving, memory, organization and planning skills.