Researchers have found executive functioning (EF) to be important for reading and math performance but have paid less attention to their role in writing. Van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) identified three levels of writing: microstructure, macrostructure, and superstructure. The existing work on EF and writing has several limitations: researchers have…

Historically, school psychological assessment has included the core elements of cognitive, academic, and behavioral indices. Neuropsychological assessment has included these and the additional elements of attention, memory, language, visual-spatial, motor, sensory, and executive functioning (American Psychological Association, 2006). With the…

Research has established that executive functions, the skills required to monitor and control thought and action, are related to achievement in mathematics. Until recently research has focused on working memory, but studies are beginning to show that inhibition skills--the ability to suppress distracting information and unwanted responses--are…

Memory deficits are common among stroke survivors. Identifying neuroprotective agents that can prevent memory impairment or improve memory recovery is a vital area of research. Glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß) is involved in several essential intracellular signaling pathways. Unlike many other kinases, GSK-3ß is active only when…

Executive functions enable flexible thinking, something young children are notoriously bad at. For instance, in the dimensional change card sort (DCCS) task, 3-year-olds can sort cards by one dimension (shape), but continue to sort by this dimension when asked to switch (to color). This study tests a prediction of a dynamic neural field model that…

Two experiments examined relations among social maturity, executive function, language, and cochlear implant (CI) use among deaf high school and college students. Experiment 1 revealed no differences between deaf CI users, deaf nonusers, and hearing college students in measures of social maturity. However, deaf students (both CI users and…

Purpose: The Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (FAVRES; MacDonald, 2005) test was designed for use by speech-language pathologists to assess verbal reasoning, complex comprehension, discourse, and executive skills during performance on a set of challenging and ecologically valid functional tasks. A recent French…

In the United States a "civic engagement gap" persists between low-income youth and their higher-income counterparts. To examine the developmental origins of civic engagement in a sample of U.S. children growing up in poverty, a conceptual model was tested employing the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K)…

Purpose: This study sought to determine whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and executive functions are associated with stuttered speech disfluencies of young children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS). Method: Thirty-six young CWS and 36 CWNS were exposed to neutral, negative, and positive emotion-inducing video clips, followed by…

We re-evaluate conclusions about disfluency production in high-functioning forms of autism spectrum disorder (HFA). Previous studies examined individuals with HFA to address a theoretical question regarding speaker- and listener-oriented disfluencies. Individuals with HFA tend to be self-centric and have poor pragmatic language skills, and should…

Self-regulation, defined as volitional control of attention, behavior, and executive functions for the purposes of goal-directed action is associated with multiple school-related outcomes. Children with robust self-regulation have been shown to more cooperatively participate in classroom activities, sustain focus on tasks and exhibit reduced…

The current study introduces a model for measuring student diligence using online behaviors during intelligent tutoring system use. This model is validated using a full academic year dataset to test its predictive validity against long-term academic outcomes including end-of-year grades and total work completed by the end of the year. The model is…

Background: In Germany, there is a substantial gap in reading literacy between monolingual children and their L2-speaking peers. Nevertheless, it is still unclear where these performance differences are rooted. Methods: We investigated children of grades 5, 6 and 7 with comparable socio-economic status, who completed a battery of tests assessing…

Self-regulation and executive functioning impairments are common in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Given the high rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder identified amongst children living in the remote Fitzroy Valley region of Western Australia, the Alert Program® was identified as a culturally safe intervention for use in local…

Yoga for young children has become a growing area of interest in early childhood settings across the United States. Evidence suggests that yoga has the ability to improve young children's physical development, executive functioning, self-regulation, and can aid in decreasing stress and anxiety. While the scope of research on yoga for young…