Page 44 - Unit 3 Brain Control

What does this all mean to practice?

What this unit teaches us

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION SKILLS ARE CRUCIAL – BUT ARE NOT FULLY DEVELOPED IN

CHILDREN & ARE FURTHER WEAKENED DURING STRESS

1. Executive Function skills are critical to both learning and play and to success in and

outside of school. They help us to process and remember information, focus attention, adapt to

change, problem-solve and compromise, inhibit unhelpful responses, manage emotions and control

energy.

2. When a child is struggling at home or at school, it is nearly always due to difficulties in
one or more of the Executive Function skills.

3. Executive Function skills are housed in the pre-frontal cortex area of the brain which does not

finish maturing until around 25 years of age.

4. Connections between the pre-frontal cortex and other parts of the brain develop over

time. They are not as strong in children and young people as they are in adults.

5. This means that when a young person has big feelings (pleasant or unpleasant), it will be

harder for them to think rationally, act and speak deliberately and make good decisions in that

moment – however much they intended to keep to promises and do well.