Training executive functions in kindergarten

The volume provides kindergarten teachers with materials and tools to assess any difficulties in executive functioning and to intervene promptly to strengthen and enhance the children’s abilities.

After an introduction on executive functions, the volume introduces play-tests which include:

• an initial collective administration, aimed at identifying children with greater difficulties than the class group through group activities;
• a second individual administration, to deepen and address the difficulties of the individual child.

Subsequently, following a flexible and measurable decision-making process regarding the outcomes, teachers will be able to choose the most useful enrichment activities based on the specific difficulties of the student. In this way, each pupil will have all the resources necessary to learn effectively at school and in general throughout life. The enhancement activities are divided into:

• Activities for improving attention
• Activities for improving the working memory
• Activities for strengthening inhibition
• Activities for strengthening shifting