While research on executive functioning has been taking place since the early 1970s, it has recently become a common buzzword in the worlds of education and speech-language pathology. This may be due to new research showing that a child’s future success depends less on their ability to memorize math facts and decode words, and more on having strong executive functioning and social-emotional skills. So what is executive functioning, and why is it so important for learning?

Like many professional fields, education has its own language and jargon that only those in the profession typically understand and use. Oftentimes, this causes parents some level of confusion when speaking with teachers, reading reports or conducting research. Check out this list of terms frequently used in schools. Some are relatively new, while others have been used in the field for decades.

The Parish School is excited to welcome Ronald Beghetto, PhD, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, as the Keynote Speaker for the 10th Annual “Giving Voice to Children” Luncheon on Oct. 4, where he will present “Uncertainty as a Catalyst for Creativity.” In anticipation of his keynote address, we’ve been granted a special Q&A with Ron, where he reveals how he became an expert on creativity and a few take-aways from his upcoming presentation.

Math and reading seem to be the two areas of academics that society focuses on the most. They also happen to be two areas in which children who have language disorders and executive functioning difficulties frequently struggle. It’s easy to see how a difficulty understanding language can impact a child’s ability to read – reading requires the ability to comprehend written language. However, determining how difficulties with language can impact a child’s mathematical ability is much less obvious.