Promoting EF With Preschool Interventions: Lessons Learned From 15 Years of Conducting Large-Scale Studies

Abstract

In the past two decades, a growing number of early childhood interventions that aim to improve school readiness have also targeted children's executive function (EF), building on the theory that promoting EF skills in preschool may play a key role in reducing the substantial gaps in school readiness and later achievement associated with family income. Despite the expansion of school readiness interventions across preschool, research evidence is mixed regarding what works to promote EF development and the impact of these interventions on children's EF skills, and subsequently, their academic and behavioral outcomes. This paper reviews four intervention approaches designed to support school readiness that may also improve children's EF skills by: (a) encouraging adaptive classroom behaviors, (b) improving social-emotional learning, (c) promoting play and direct training of EF skills, and (d) improving cognitive skills related to EF. We describe program effects from rigorous trials testing these approaches, including summarizing the takeaways from four large-scale intervention research studies conducted by the authors, involving over 5,000 children. We conclude by exploring open questions for the field and future directions for research and intervention program development and refinement.

The Best Start (Kia Tīmata Pai): A Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Trial with Early Childhood Teachers to Support Children’s Oral Language and Self-Regulation Development

“…Given the significance of oral language and self-regulation for optimal functioning throughout life [1,3,31], there is an urgent need for knowledge on the best ways to support the development of these skills as early in life as possible. Previous large-scale interventions with early childhood teachers have focused either on improving oral language or selfregulation separately [13,[32][33][34], but not on their independent versus combined effects.…”

The timing of executive function development is associated with growth in math achievement from preschool through second grade

“…As such, the early years of schooling might provide a unique opportunity to support children's EF development, particularly for children who develop EF later, as they appear to be at greater risk for poor math outcomes. However, although a number of EF intervention programs have been effective in producing small gains in children's EF development during preschool (see Mattera et al, 2021 for review), it is unclear whether these types of programs can place children on different EF or math trajectories (Mattera et al, 2021;Nesbitt & Farran, 2021), or whether gains in EF or math could be sustained across development (see Bailey et al, 2020 for commentary on Fade-out effects). Moreover, given that prior research suggests that interventions targeting EF skills do not necessarily generalize to domain specific skills such as academic content knowledge (Goodrich et al, 2021;Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013), whether preschool EF programs can produce meaningful changes in children's math achievement across elementary school remains an open question.…”

Moulding environmental contexts to optimise neurodiverse executive function performance and development: A goodness‐of‐fit account

“…In a different population, but with a parallel focus on responsive parenting, a neurodiversity‐affirming parent‐toddler programme aims to support EF development among toddlers with a family history of autism or ADHD by empowering parents to explore ways to help their children practise their EF skills after first establishing that their child is in a position to perform at their upper‐limit EF ability because their sensory, emotional and motivational needs have been met Hendry et al (2023). A number of preschool‐based interventions have attempted to move away from decontextualised EF training (e.g., see Mattera et al (2021), for a review). For example, in low‐income preschool settings within a High Income Country, providing teachers with training in strategies designed to foster play‐ and peer‐based learning, as well as emotionally‐supporting classroom environments, has been found to improve preschoolers' preacademic skills via improvements in child EF (Raver et al, 2011).…”