Cognitive Development

Executive functionsThe Building Blocks of Intelligance are crucial for learning and development. These skills enable the higher-order mental processes required for planning, fluid intelligence (reasoning, problem-solving and adaptable thinking), self-monitoring, self-control, time management, and organisation. They also enable positive behaviour and allow us to make healthy choices for ourselves and our families.

In other words, these competencies are essential for developing learning capacity.

Humans are not born with these skills and need to develop them. Our program supports cognitive development by creating learning environments that follow the universal best practices which govern how humans learn. 

Individual Interests: As with adults, when children are provided with the freedom to pursue their interests, they tend to develop their executive functioning skills, increase their learning capacity and ability to participate in challenging mental tasks with far less effort than when forced to participate in subjects in which they have little interest. Yet, focusing on individual interests does not mean neglecting essential areas of education such as science, math and language. It simply means that we provide a learning environment where personal interests are used to introduce and teach these subjects.

Autonomy/Independence: Our program encourages freedom, autonomy and independent learning by guiding and coaching our learners through “scaffolding” that helps them practise the necessary skills before performing them alone. Our program, therefore, guides learners towards increased independence by:

• Creating and maintaining supportive, reliable relationships and modelling appropriate social behaviour,
• Developing activities that foster creative play and social connection;
• Teaching learners how to cope with stress,
• and providing opportunities for directing their actions and learning with decreasing adult guidance.

Executive function skills can be classified into three types of brain function: working memory, mental flexibility, and self-control/regulation. These functions are highly interrelated, and the successful application of executive function skills requires them to operate in coordination with each other.

• Working memory governs our ability to retain and manipulate distinct pieces of information over short periods.
• Mental flexibility helps us to sustain or shift attention in response to different demands or to apply different rules in various settings.
• Inhibitory Control (a.k.a. Self-control/regulation) enables us to set priorities and resist impulsive actions or responses.