The Relevance of the Early Childhood Executive Functions With Preliteracy Learning

Abstract

High ability preschoolers manifest a great variability on neuropsychological measures and preliteracy skills within their population, despite their intelligence quotient scores in the above average range. The present chapter begins with a definition of the executive functions (EFs), followed by recent research on the penetration of EFs sufficiency or insufficiency in early oral language development. Research data on the EFs and preliteracy skills of high ability preschool children are also presented, followed by the description of an educational EFs training software with embedded preliteracy activities. Its development was based on recent documented evidence on the relevance of early childhood EFs and young children's preliteracy skills. After taking part in a pretest assessment of core EFs and preliteracy skills, a group of 12 high ability preschool children participated in two 30-min sessions of the educational EFs training program with integrated preliteracy activities per week for 12 weeks. Preliminary findings are promising for its efficacy.