Understanding the development of executive function skills in early childhood
Take a moment to reflect on how you spend your day. Consider the interactions you have with those around you, the tasks you schedule to complete, the errands that need to be run, or the family that needs to be fed. Now, ponder your capacity to execute all these undertakings, and yet still stay sane at the end of it all, resisting the urge to curl up under your warm covers and shut out the world. How do you do it? How do you get out of bed each morning, and take on the burden that we call life?
As adults, our caliber to navigate each day through multitasking, staying focused, and maintaining self-control, “undergird[s] the deliberate, intentional, goal-directed behavior that is required of daily life and success at work” (Harvard University).
We are talking executive function skills. These skills allow us to function as productive, organized, and fortuitous adults, but unfortunately, no person is born with these skills in place. Rather, each individual possesses the potential to develop said attributes through their own childhood experiences – the most important being playtime.
Social play is an important foundation for the development of executive function skills, particularly because the environment, interactions, and experiences that play provides allows children to practice what their parents have been scaffolding for them since birth (i.e. giving them rules to follow, assigning chores, consequences for bad behavior, guiding attention, etc.). Research suggests, “the complexity of human social relationships…is why the human prefrontal cortex [where executive function skills are found] is so large” (Harvard University). Children need a chance to investigate these skills for themselves.
Play affects four main aspects of a child’s development (Bodrova, E.; Leong, D.):
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- Motivation – play is the first context in which children delay gratification
- Ability to take on perspectives that differ from the child’s own
- Ability to work with objects that are symbolic – abstract thinking and imagination
- Following rules and monitoring others in relation to self
Consider a child who wants to play house with his friend. He needs to come up with a plan for how exactly this will be done, communicate the associated role assignments (mom, dad, daughter, dog, etc.), and remember who is who during its execution. A child will then designate random objects as substitutes for items that fit into the context of his play (a cardboard box is a fridge). Finally, each child must follow the rules of the play, monitoring one another’s role in it, so nothing falls apart.
Scientists refer to executive function skills as the “biological foundation for school readiness…” They argue further stating, “strong working memory, cognitive self-control, and attentional skills provide the basis upon which children’s abilities to learn to read, write, and do math can be built”. Teachers identify issues in the classroom related to attention control, behavior and emotional control, completion of tasks, and communication as major factors in whether a child is prepared to succeed – skills believed to be more essential than knowing letters or numbers. (Harvard University)
Unfortunately, there is a large population that fails to recognize how playtime is an important part of this groundwork. Parents and teachers find it hard to look past the bright, sticky messes and fights over who gets to play doctor, to value and understand the real benefit of structured playtime. But, can we really blame them? Currently, “play is not recognized as a medium for learning” (Bodrova, E.; Leong, D.). The demand to meet academic goals, which are continually being pushed farther down each year, outweighs any necessity for play interventions. With so much emphasis on issues related to school readiness and standardized testing, play is usually left for home. Even then, children are increasingly spending less time with friends, and more time isolated on screens, limiting their chances to explore and practice such vital skills.
As adults, we savor the memories of outdoor fun with friends – tag in the streets, playing house, cops and robbers, the list goes on… We appreciate the value of those experiences and relationships, but will future generations be able to say the same? Regardless of the need to meet demanding standards that commence too early on in school, social play should be a valued time in both the classroom with teachers and peers, as well as at home with family and friends.
What are your thoughts regarding the importance of playtime and executive function skills?
Sources:
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011); Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function: Working Paper No. 11. http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu.
Bodrova, E.; Leong, D., Chopsticks and Counting Chips: Do Play and Foundational Skills Need to Compete for the Teacher’s Attention in an Early Childhood Classroom? Beyond the Journal. Young Children on the Web. (2013)
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