Full PreFrontal

The start of the New Year always rings in new possibilities. However, setting and achieving goals for yourself and by yourself is harder than it seems. There are a multitude of obstacles including questions like knowing which tasks and ambitions to prioritize, where exactly to start, and how best to carry on when facing roadblocks and distractions. One truth remains though, we are likely to follow through with goals and pursuits that we are highly motivated about.On this episode, behavioral scientist, Chicago Booth professor, and leading expert on motivation, Dr. Ayelet Fishbach, Ph.D., discusses ways to think about and apply motivation to our lives and what people need to know about leveraging social support to stay motivated in our goal pursuit. Motivation is defined as a psychological force that enables action and a key to mastering Executive Function is to close the gap between one's intentions and one's actions.About Ayelet FishbachAyelet Fishbach, PhD, is the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business and the author of GET IT DONE: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. She is the past president of the Society for the Science of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network. She is an expert on motivation and decision making. Dr. Fishbach's groundbreaking research on human motivation has won the Society of Experimental Social Psychology's Best Dissertation Award and Career Trajectory Award, and the Fulbright Educational Foundation Award.Websites:https://www.ayeletfishbach.com/https://tinyurl.com/MotSciBooks:Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of MotivationAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

How would you feel if during your trip to Agra, India, someone offers to sell you the Taj Mahal (one of the greatest wonders of the world)? In its absurd glory you might question the offer as you read this, but not everyone did. One of the greatest con artists from India, Natwarlal aka Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, not only sold the Taj Mahal to unsuspecting foreign tourists, but also made out selling a few other historical monuments ~ and not just once, but multiple times. No one likes to be conned, fooled or taken advantage of. However, everyone has fallen prey to someone else's deceit at least once because we are wired for trust-bias and scammers use our own cognitive beliefs, habits, and assumptions against us.On this episode, research neuroscientists, co-authors and collaborators Dr. Christopher Chabris and Dr. Daniel Simons discuss their most recent book, “Nobody's Fool: Why we get taken and what we can do about it” and explain what classic and current research in cognitive psychology and the social sciences says about our vulnerabilities to fall prey to deception and fraud. Focus, critical thinking, discernment and questioning ourselves with criticality are some of the effective ways of managing our truth bias and activating our executive function to protect our future-selves.About Dr. Christopher ChabrisChristopher Chabris is a Professor at Geisinger, a Pennsylvania healthcare system, where he co-directs the Behavioral Insights Team. He previously taught at Union College and Harvard University, and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. Chris received his Ph.D. in psychology and A.B. in computer science from Harvard. His research focuses on decision-making, attention, intelligence, and behavior genetics. His work has been published in leading journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, and Perception. Chris is also a chess master and co-author of the bestseller The Invisible Gorilla (published in 21 languages) and the forthcoming book on deception and fraud, Nobody's Fool.About Dr. Daniel SimonsDr. Daniel Simons is a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois where he heads the Visual Cognition Laboratory and has courtesy appointments in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising and the Gies College of Business. Dan received his B.A. from Carleton College and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. His research explores the limits of awareness and memory, the reasons why we often are unaware of those limits, and the implications of such limits for our personal and professional lives. For more information, visit dansimons.com.Websites:http://www.chabris.com/dansimons.comBooks:The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive UsNobody's Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About ItAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

200 episodes! The Full PreFrontal Podcast has reached a significant milestone, and what does that mean to us? We're “in it for the long haul!” We find inspiration from Japanese artist, On Kawara, known for his work that illustrates the beauty, structure, and discipline in doing something over a long period of time with persistence and care. A milestone often not only marks the start of a new chapter, but also serves as a reward for past accomplishments, both big and small. Achievements are precious and timeless, and what better way to commemorate them than with precious guests. On today's podcast, Sucheta celebrates this 200th episode with her two sons who flip the script by taking a look back at the podcast's journey through time. Kunal Kamath is a graduate of Columbia University and an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company who lives and breathes executive function principles. In his spare time, Kunal loves the performing arts, crossword puzzles, and cultivating an indoor jungle of houseplants in his Brooklyn apartment. Rahil Kamath is also a graduate of Columbia University and is working toward his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University—he is a firm believer of the deep connection between executive function and psychological well-being. Rahil loves reading novels, is an avid soccer fan, and, much like his mom, enjoys nerding out on all things psychology.Sucheta would like to invite all listeners and followers of the podcast to join in on the celebrations as she continues to explore the mysteries of Executive Function while translating the art and science of self-regulated transformation for personal growth.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

During the 2007 season of America's Next Top Model, contestant Heather Kuzmich introduced American viewers to her diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and the  challenges that go along with it. Having to live in a house with twelve strangers while navigating the social politics of housemates who were also her competitors proved to be quite a bit of challenge for Kuzmich and yet she won viewers' hearts and ended up in the top five. While this success story offers inspiration and hope to many; for those with ASD diagnosis, the struggle is real and they need help and support from not just experts, but from communities as well.On this episode, practicing clinical psychologist and co-author of two books “Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else” and “Is This Autism? A companion guide for diagnosing”, Dr. Donna Henderson returns to discuss effective ways to manage the ASD condition as it poses many challenges including black-and-white thinking, rigid rule-following, obsessiveness, and perfectionism that can take a toll on one's quality of life.About Donna Henderson, Psy.D.Dr. Donna Henderson has been a clinical psychologist for over 30 years. She is passionate about identifying and supporting autistic individuals, particularly those who camouflage, and she is co-author (with Drs. Sarah Wayland and Jamell White) of two books: Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else and Is This Autism? A companion guide for diagnosing. Dr. Henderson's professional home is The Stixrud Group in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she provides neuropsychological evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults who would like to understand themselves better. She is a sought-after lecturer on the less obvious presentations of autism, autistic girls and women, PDA, and on parenting children with complex profiles. She also enjoys providing neurodiversity-affirmative training and consultation for other healthcare professionals.Website:http://drdonnahenderson.com/Book:Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else. Is This Autism? A companion guide for diagnosing.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

If a boy has an odd affect, you might think he's autistic. But if a girl has an odd affect, you'll think she's a drama queen!…How does autism present itself? And what if it presents in a way you might not expect? The ordeal of connecting, communicating, and belonging to a neurotypical world while being neurodiverse is the same as navigating the right-handed world while being left-handed ~ it can cause angst and challenge. On this podcast, practicing clinical psychologist and co-author of two books “Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else” and “Is This Autism? A companion guide for diagnosing”, Dr. Donna Henderson discusses effective ways of identifying and supporting autistic individuals, particularly those with subtle presentation who experience life-long effects which are much more than subtle.About Donna Henderson, Psy.D.Dr. Donna Henderson has been a clinical psychologist for over 30 years. She is passionate about identifying and supporting autistic individuals, particularly those who camouflage, and she is co-author (with Drs. Sarah Wayland and Jamell White) of two books: Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else and Is This Autism? A companion guide for diagnosing. Dr. Henderson's professional home is The Stixrud Group in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she provides neuropsychological evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults who would like to understand themselves better. She is a sought-after lecturer on the less obvious presentations of autism, autistic girls and women, PDA, and on parenting children with complex profiles. She also enjoys providing neurodiversity-affirmative training and consultation for other healthcare professionals.Website:http://drdonnahenderson.com/Book:Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else. Is This Autism? A companion guide for diagnosing.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

The process of educating children and growing as an educator in return requires everyone to acknowledge the bidirectionality that is inherent to teaching and learning. The context and culture that invests in both the academic growth of a child and also in the process that honors the input from its learning community brings itself into a new realm of possibilities. By carefully creating time and space to hear the voices of student stakeholders, educators discover meaningful ways to act upon them with clarity and care.On this episode, author, K-16 educator & administrator, motivational speaker, leadership expert and development coach, Dr. Mary Hemphill, discusses the framework of the One-Minute Meeting and the importance of an informative needs assessment that maximizes interactions with students to uncover their transformational potential. In an effort to build self-reliant children, we need to build relationships with children so that they approach their own challenges and roadblocks with courage and trust; and as their brains grow, so does their Executive Function skills.About Dr. Mary HemphillDr. Mary Hemphill is a Leadership Expert & Development Coach, K-16 Educator & Administrator, Author, & Motivational Speaker. With over 17 years of professional experience as a teacher, administrator, state director, & university professor, Mary understands the importance of fusing education, empowerment, & leadership together as she works with learning & working communities & speaks to audiences across the country. She holds a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies, & has led, coached, & impacted close to 40,000 educational and corporate leaders around the world on transformational & innovative strategy, self-empowerment, & leadership development. Mary is the proud CEO & Founder of The Limitless Lady LLC ™, an organization that helps people ignite the leader in themselves so they can better serve their community, company, and personal career through coaching, consulting, workshops, and keynotes aimed at corporate and educational leaders and organizations.Mary is the author of The One-Minute Meeting: Creating Student Stakeholders in Schools, which teaches readers how to leverage a unique instructional practice called the One-Minute Meeting to authentically glean information from students. Developed to inspire school and district leaders to fully engage with and empower their students, The One-Minute Meeting is an exceptional resource for college & university courses in school leadership and administration. This text is also a valuable resource for in-service educators and administrators at K-12 institutions.Website:https://www.bealimitlessleader.com/Book:The One-Minute Meeting: Creating Student Stakeholders in SchoolsAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Culture in general plays an important role in human development and particularly childhood is shaped by culture. Not so long ago raising children was considered rather noisy, dirty, tedious and anything but pleasant. However, those living in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies that make up about 12% of the world's population have perpetuated over-protective child-rearing practices and principals while ignoring the cultural wisdom of the rest of the world. With this rise in parental hyper-vigilance in creating independent children, there is a growing trend that parents are turning everything in the child's life into a learning/teaching opportunity, which is a likely source of learned helplessness and a predictable path to a failure to launch.On this episode, anthropologist, researcher, and author and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Utah State University, David Lancy, discusses the loss of autonomy and freedom in WEIRD societies and the relationship between how we raise children and the eventual likelihood of a failure to launch and the insecurity, anxiety, and breakdown in executive function. About David F LancyDavid Lancy has done extensive cross-cultural fieldwork with children as the focus. His most important work, just published in a third edition, is The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings. That scholarly book was paired by a popular version in 2017, entitled Raising Children: Surprising Insights From Other Cultures. In total, Lancy has authored nine books and edited three. A new work on pedagogy in culture is in progress. Publishers have included Academic Press, Cambridge, Longman, Praeger and Oxford. He has also authored over eighty articles and book chapters.Website:https://www.davidlancy.org/Books:The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattels, ChangelingsRaising Children: Surprising Insights from Other CulturesAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Culture encourages girls and women to exhibit both traditional “feminine” qualities, such as being empathic, good with relationships, nice, obedient, good mothers, and home-organizers, as well as traditional “masculine” qualities, such as being assertive, competitive, academically driven, and career-focused. However, when girls display disruptive, hyperactive, impulsive, or disorganized behavior, they are at risk of harsher social judgment compared to their male counterparts because they violate the feminine societal norms. For starters, ADHD and resulting Executive Dysfunction in girls and women can turn their lives upside down and in an attempt to avoid social sanctions, many of them spend excessive amounts of energy trying to hide their challenges, which in turn go unnoticed and hence untreated. On this episode, psychotherapist, consultant and author, Sari Solden, discusses why girls and women with ADHD get diagnosed much later than a typical child with ADHD and how best to help alleviate their personal shame and struggles with the unrelenting societal pressure of needing to “prove it to the world” that they are worthy to be given opportunities. An essential component of improving Executive Function skills is building self-knowledge and constructing a personal narrative of a wholesome self that recognizes the common humanity in all of our experiences. Instead of framing self-work or self-change as “fixing something that is broken”, the best therapeutic way to empower girls and women with ADHD is to help them invest in their own future-self.About Sari Solden, MSSari Solden, M.S, is a psychotherapist who has counseled adults with ADHD for over 30 years. She is the author of the books, Women with Attention Deficit Disorder, Journeys Through ADDulthood, and co-author of A Radical Guide for Women with ADHD. Her areas of specialization include women's issues, inattentive ADHD, and the emotional consequences and healing process for adults who grew up with undiagnosed ADHD. She is a prominent keynote speaker on these subjects nationally and internationally. Ms. Solden currently consults with neurodiverse women mental health and helping professionals, as well as trains therapists in how to help women with ADHD. She serves on the professional advisory board of ADDA and was the recipient of their award for outstanding service by a helping professional.You can contact Sari at Sari@SariSolden.comWebsite:https://www.sarisolden.comhttps://www.adhdradicalguide.comBooks:Women with Attention Deficit DisorderJourneys Though ADDulthoodA Radical Guide for Women with ADHDAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Why is it that our resolve to lose weight, give up eating desserts, and start a new exercise regimen is bound to fail? Because we all have bought into to the conventional wisdom that follow-through with a new decision is simply a matter of conscious choice and decision and ultimately this belief ends up leading us astray. Even though it's a common human experience to want to overcome ill-desired habits and change our ways, simply chanting the mantra of the “Just Do it” or reading self-help books will not make it easy to get rid of our bad habits or make us better people.On this episode, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California and author of the book, Good Habits, Bad Habits, Wendy Wood, discusses how the psychological sciences of habit-making, habit-breaking, and habit-reshaping relies on the interplay of decisions and unconscious factors. She highlights that to make the changes we seek, we must first unlock our habitual mind. Since Executive Function skills pertain to forming goals and persisting through time to achieve them, the success of Executive Function training lies in discovering how to tolerate the drudgery of sticking to things over and over again.About Wendy WoodWendy Wood is Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California and author of the book, Good Habits, Bad Habits. For the past 30 years, she has studied the nature of habits and why they are so difficult to break. Her award-winning research has appeared in over 100 scientific articles and is regularly featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR. She has consulted on habit formation and change with P&G's consumer products division, the CDC's diabetes prevention programs, the World Bank's initiative to increase hand-washing in developing nations, and the US Paper & Packaging Board's recycling program.Websites:https://dornsife.usc.edu/wendywoodhttp://goodhabitsbadhabits.org/ About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Research shows that young children with stronger Executive Function skills present themselves far differently than their peers and their behaviors and actions stand out a bit more. These children are more involved in their preschool classrooms, they interact more freely with their learning environment, and it's less likely that they get put into “time out”. From there on, these students' journeys puts them on the fast track to develop greater independence and self-sufficiently because they exhibit skills that allow them to maximize the learning opportunities in activities that are the building blocks of formal education.On this episode, Assistant Researcher at the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Dr. Laura Rhinehart, discusses the nature of Executive Function and early development and ways in which children with ADHD or dyslexia differ in their reading, literacy, and executive functioning skills.About Laura Rhinehart, Ph.D.Dr. Laura Rhinehart is an Assistant Researcher at the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She received her M.Ed. and Ph.D. from UCLA's Department of Education. Her current research focuses on dyslexia, early literacy assessment and reading interventions, and children's executive functioning skills. Dr. Rhinehart's articles have been published in peer-reviewed publications, including The Reading League Journal and the Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Raising children, which was always hard, has become harder; not because of the work that goes into changing diapers, preparing meals, taking kids to soccer or piano, or all the laundry that one has to do; but because not everyone is good with children. On top of that, in modern times and in modern living, parents' abilities to control what children have access to has fundamentally changed, requiring parents to deal with difficult information and ongoing conflict in motives between what the parents think is appropriate versus what children desire. All this amplifies the ongoing tension and erodes relationships between contemporary parents and their teens while the complex world never ceases to be complex.On this episode, ADHD and parent-teen relationships expert, author, and clinical psychologist, Dr. Arthur Robin, discusses how to build better communication, problem solving, and realistic thinking in interpersonal relationships. A key ingredient to Executive Function development and mastery is effective interpersonal communication and self-initiated problems solving and hence, parents play a vital role in facilitating that for their children.About Arthur L. Robin, Ph.D.Since receiving a Clinical Psychology Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in New York in 1975, Dr. Arthur Robin's 47 year career has included clinical practice, teaching, 37 years as a pediatric psychologist at Children's of Michigan and Wayne State University School of Medicine, research, and writing.  Specializing in parent-teen relationships, ADHD in adolescents and adults, and eating disorders in adolescents, he has authored/ coauthored five book and many chapters and journal articles and spoken often throughout the United States and elsewhere on these topics.  Common across all of his books is Dr. Robin's emphasis on building better communication, problem solving, and realistic thinking in interpersonal relationships.  A licensed psychologist in Michigan, at present Dr. Robin maintains a small clinical practice evaluating and treating adolescents and adults with ADHD and related disorders at Dennis, Moye, Branstetter and Associates in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.Books:Negotiating Parent-Adolescent Conflict: A behavioral family systems approachADHD in Adolescents: Diagnosis and TreatmentDefiant Teens: A Clinician's Manual for Assessment and Family InterventionYour Defiant Teen (2nd Ed)Adult ADHD-Focused Couple TherapyAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

There is no impulse more natural than the desire to protect ourselves and our loved ones from pain. When we experience social-emotional pain, we activate the same instincts as a mama bear who jumps to protect her cub as an effort to dial down emotions of distress. An unhealthy emotional pain management can lead to actively taking steps to inflict pain on others through the acts of withholding affection, interactions, or reciprocity. The “silent treatment” or social exclusion is one such powerful tool that delivers insurmountable distress to others providing individuals with only temporary relief.On this podcast, a pioneer and world-leading expert on social and psychological dynamics of ostracism, author, and a distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, Kipling Williams, discusses how the silent treatment can damage relationships, sometimes irreparably and provides effective and meaningful ways we can manage our own disappointments, let-downs, or hurt by engaging personal growth and emotional agility.About Kipling WilliamsKipling Williams is Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. He earned his B.S. from the University of Washington—Seattle (1975) and his PhD at The Ohio State University (1981). Prior to coming to Purdue, Williams was on faculties at Macquarie University and University of New South Wales (both in Sydney, Australia), University of Toledo (Ohio), and Drake University (Iowa). He is a pioneer and world-leading expert on social and psychological dynamics of ostracism. As well as his authored book, Ostracism: The Power of Silence, he has edited ten books, including The Social Outcast, and the soon-to-be published Frontier Handbook on Ostracism, Social Exclusion, and Rejection. He has been an associate editor of Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, & Practice, as well as Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. He was the editor of Social Influence from 2010-2019.His research interests include ostracism, social influence, and motivation in groups. He has published over 180 articles and chapters, with articles in Science, Scientific American-MIND, Psychological Science, and other top journals in the field of social psychology. In 2012, he was a Lorentz Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies. He was a co-winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Socio-Psychological (AAAS), and Purdue University's College of Health and Human Sciences Research Achievement Award. He is past president of the Society for Australasian Social Psychologists and the Midwestern Psychological Association.Website: http://williams.socialpsychology.orgBook:Ostracism: The Power of SilenceAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Students with underdeveloped Executive Function skills often present themselves as highly impulsive or distracted, reactive rather than reflective, forgetful of their goals, lacking persistence or as those who dislike effortful tasks. Such behaviors often are alarming as they sabotage personal success and social cooperation. However, a myriad of traumatic exposures in childhood in Black communities leads to stress-related cognitive, emotional, and physiological compromise that tends to disproportionately affect that community and requires special consideration.On today's episode, assistant professor and Adult Emphasis Neuropsychology Director at Spalding University School of Professional Psychology, Dr. Willie F. McBride discusses what considerations we must give and how best to work with and engage in intersectional thinking while serving the needs of Black children and adults. Helping children from diverse backgrounds to build their Executive Function skills requires neuropsychologists, clinicians, and educators to personalize tools for advocacy and a pause to activate our own discernment can go a long way.About Dr. Willie F. McBride, Ph.D.Dr. Will McBride is a neuropsychologist, assistant professor and co-director of the Complete Neuropsychology Services at Spalding University. He completed his neuropsychology fellowship at the University of Virginia Health System where he primarily focused on evaluating neurodegenerative processes in older adults. He has a burgeoning interest in cultural neuropsychology and examining health disparities within the African American community and is a co-founder of the Society for Black Neuropsychology. He completed his doctorate at the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology. His hobbies include collecting vinyl records, playing video games, spending time with family, and watching movies/anime.Website: www.soblackneuro.orgAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

In a society where its members believe that one color or race is superior to another, its members who belong to the racial minority experience poor treatment based on these beliefs causing them social-emotional trauma. These racialized experiences get further accentuated by false narratives perpetuated by the society unbeknownst to its members which leads to an artificial gap that directly contradicts our mission of wanting to provide equal opportunities to ALL scholars. The trauma-informed approach to education considers these nuances and prioritizes the mission of challenging these false narratives.On this episode, Spalding University's Chief Diversity Officer, Associate Professor in Spalding University's School of Professional Psychology, and Coordinator for the Collective Care Center Racial Trauma Clinic, Dr. Steven Kniffley, discusses what race-based stress and trauma is all about and how that impacts learning and personal agency of our young minority scholars. Helping young learners to take responsibility for their own learning to become self-reliant adults hinges on forming future-forward goals, good habits, and strategic plans based on personal priorities; however, the journey towards homing one's Executive Function skills isn't same for all children and we must understand the distinctions and use discernment when designing educational opportunities for these children.About Steven D Kniffley Jr., PsyD ABPP MPASteven D. Kniffley Jr., PsyD MPA ABPP  is Spalding University's Chief Diversity Officer, an Associate  Professor in Spalding University's School of Professional Psychology, and Coordinator for the Collective Care Center Racial Trauma Clinic. Dr. Kniffley's area of expertise is research and clinical work with Black males and the treatment of race based stress and trauma. Dr. Kniffley also serves as an organizational diversity consultant and works with law enforcement departments on addressing conflicts between communities of color and police officers.  Dr. Kniffley has written numerous books, book chapters, and articles on Black male mental health, Black males and the criminal justice system, racial trauma treatment and training, and academic achievement. Additionally, Dr. Kniffley was recently selected as one of Louisville's top 40 under 40 for 2020, a recipient of the 2020 MediStar Healthcare Advocacy Award, a 2021 Louisville Healthcare Hero, and the inaugural recipient of the University of Louisville Diversity Leadership Award.Website: https://drstevenkniffleyjr.com/Books:Knowledge of self: Understanding the mind of the Black maleOut of K.O.S. (Knowledge of Self): Black Masculinity, Psychopathology, and TreatmentThe Black Man's Guide to Graduate SchoolBlack Males and the Criminal Justice SystemAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

The excitement of a new year also brings new challenges to overcome, especially as we continue to face educational, health, safety and well-being issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we gear up, how should we adjust our educational approach so that we can achieve our goals with our schools and communities? How can we keep students motivated and engaged to continue learning, but also, how do we develop patience and understanding throughout the community during this new normal that is weighed down by fear, frustration, and the anxiety of the unknown?In this episode, Dr. Morcease Beasley, Superintendent, Clayton County Public School, Georgia discusses how educators can make strategic shifts by focusing on self-awareness, self-reflection and Executive Function in general to empower their teachers, staff, parents and students during these uncertain times. Hear how since the start of COVID-19 in 2020, Dr. Beasley has made remarkable efforts to strategically manage the disruption caused by the pandemic by implementing prudent health and safety precautions, bridging the digital divide by improving remote/hybrid learning experiences for students and activating meaningful support of students and faculty alike. Learn how teaching our students to regulate emotions and master skillful deliberation, cognitive flexibility and empathy makes a positive difference in not only their academic outcomes but also in their lives.About Dr. Morcease BeasleyNationally known as an innovative leader and instructor, Dr. Morcease Beasley has more than 25 years of dedicated service in instructional and organizational practices and the education of young people. Throughout his career, he has held numerous positions at every level of public school education beginning as a high school Mathematics teacher; assistant principal; high school principal; Executive Director for Curriculum, Instruction, Professional Learning and Federal Programs. He also held the position as Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning; Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and School Leadership. Dr. Beasley is considered a transformational educator and instructional leader with proven success in the supervision of both large urban and suburban school districts.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

It is said that a human body that has been traumatized or overwhelmed by stress can feel helpless, reactive, angry, impulsive, raging, numb and leaning towards avoidance. AND the same is true for schools! Institutions, public or private, that serve the needs of children, learners and families from distressed communities can also feel helpless and drained with an ongoing crisis or seemingly unmanageable chaos. These places and its people too can become reactive, angry or riddled with avoidance and the necessary skills may be lacking in dealing with overstressed schools and classrooms.On this episode, trauma expert, licensed social worker, the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, and former fellow at Child Trauma Academy (CTA), Dave Melnick, returns to discuss the distinction between trauma-informed vs. trauma-transformed schools and the best practices involved in the effortful redirection that cultivates this deep and wide knowledge that helps make trauma-transformed schools. In these challenging times, psycho-social and emotional trauma experienced by learners, learning communities, and all communities around the globe is far more common than ever before. Those who are trained and trauma-informed approaches to care, shift the focus from “What's wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” This is a journey we all take together.About Dave MelnickDave Melnick, LICSW is the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, a statewide mental health agency primarily serving children, adolescents and families. For the past 35 years, Dave has worked in a variety of settings including outpatient, residential treatment, and in public and day treatment schools. Along with his focus on Developmental Trauma, Dave has expertise in family therapy, adolescence, attachment, Reflective Practices, and Trauma-informed Systems.  He is trained in EMDR, DDP, and a variety of family systems models.  In 2015, the ChildTrauma Academy (CTA) acknowledged that Dave had completed NMT Training Certification through the Phase II level, and between 2017-2021 he was a Fellow at the CTA.Dave received his master's in social welfare from UC Berkeley in 1988 and is licensed in both the state of Vermont and New York as a clinical social worker.  Dave teaches graduate classes for the Vermont Higher Education Collaboration, and is a presenter and consultant in Vermont, New York and Canada.Course: Transforming Trauma (Level 1): The School as a Healing Community | VT-HECAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

The violence in the United States this past month has brought up raw emotions in all of us.  The killing of Asian seniors as they were worshipping in their church, African-American elders as they went about their everyday tasks such as shopping for groceries, and the violent deaths of 19 small children with their two teachers who came to their elementary classrooms for a day of learning—all of this leaves us in a state of deep grief and pain. For some, this might elicit feelings of fear, anger, rage, sadness, numbness, or even resentment. For others, this may invoke a renewed determination to try and make the world a better place. But for most, this might be the ultimate point of exhaustion. On today's podcast, trauma expert, licensed social worker, the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, and a fellow of ChildTrauma Academy (CTA), Dave Melnick, discusses the impact of developmental trauma on childhood learning and the distinction between trauma-informed and trauma-transformed schools. Helping children cope with childhood traumas and setbacks requires effortful redirection and educators as well as leaders must cultivate this deep and wide knowledge to help build better schools.About Dave MelnickDave Melnick, LICSW is the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, a statewide mental health agency primarily serving children, adolescents and families. For the past 35 years, Dave has worked in a variety of settings including outpatient, residential treatment, and in public and day treatment schools. Along with his focus on Developmental Trauma, Dave has expertise in family therapy, adolescence, attachment, Reflective Practices, and Trauma-informed Systems.  He is trained in EMDR, DDP, and a variety of family systems models.  In 2015, the ChildTrauma Academy (CTA) acknowledged that Dave had completed NMT Training Certification through the Phase II level, and between 2017-2021 he was a Fellow at the CTA.Dave received his master's in social welfare from UC Berkeley in 1988 and is licensed in both the state of Vermont and New York as a clinical social worker.  Dave teaches graduate classes for the Vermont Higher Education Collaboration, and is a presenter and consultant in Vermont, New York and Canada.Course: Transforming Trauma (Level 1): The School as a Healing Community | VT-HECAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Our commitment to multitasking in everyday life is unwavering and ubiquitous; a strong indicator of how our perceptions deceive us. We are not as smart as we think we are, neither are we as attentive as we think we are because the cluttered and distracted mind fragments our attention disrupting thinking, intentions, and follow through.On this episode, neuroscientist, researcher, John R. Park professor and head of the Cognitive Neuroscience Area in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah, David Strayer, discusses the role of attention, multitasking in real-world, and the serious cognitive challenges posed by various kinds of multitasking. As we find ourselves continually being drawn to technology, we might want to strengthen our insight and self-awareness so we change our ways and improve our productivity and wellbeing. About David StrayerDavid Strayer is the John R. Park professor and head of the Cognitive Neuroscience Area in the Department of Psychology at the University.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois@ Urbana-Champaign in 1989 and worked at GTE laboratories before joining the faculty at the University of Utah.  Dr. Strayer's research examines attention and multitasking in real-world contexts and for the last 20 years has focused on understanding driver distraction stemming from multimodal interactions in the vehicle.  About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Life without struggles is no life at all and what accompanies these struggles is ambiguity, uncertainty, and disruptions. Coping under these tenuous conditions means deciphering new goals, weighing options, and being future-forward while responding with adaptive mental and emotional flexibility; all made possible by one's evolving Executive Function. However, individuals who have experienced adverse childhood experiences develop a lifelong style of being mistrustful which poses its unique challenges, raising issues in the domain of personal health and interpersonal cooperation. On this episode, award-winning psychologist and elected fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, British Academy, UK Academy of Medical Sciences, and Association of Psychological Science, Professor Terrie E. Moffitt, discusses how activating strong Executive Function to think clearly and systematically under highly stressful conditions is truly hard and it affects all types of decision making including the decisions to vaccinate. By improving Executive Function such as self-control, emotional agility, and perspective taking, individuals can approach complex decision making in interesting and fruitful ways.About Professor Terrie E MoffittTerrie E. Moffitt's expertise is in the areas of lifelong aging, mental health, and longitudinal research. She is the associate director of the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, which follows a 1972 birth cohort in New Zealand. She also founded the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk), which follows a 1994 birth cohort in Britain. Moffitt is a licensed clinical psychologist.She is an elected fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, British Academy, UK Academy of Medical Sciences, and Association of Psychological Science.Moffitt is recipient of the Stockholm Prize, the Klaus Jacobs Prize, the NARSAD Ruane Prize, and the 2022 Grawemeyer Prize for her work on mental health, and the Maltilda White Riley Award from the NIH for her recent work on aging processes in midlife adults.Dr. Moffitt received her PhD in psychology at the University of Southern California, and completed her postdoctoral training at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. She enjoys working on her poison-ivy farm in North Carolina. Book:The Origins of YouResearch:Vaccine resistance has its roots in negative childhood experiences, a major study findsDeep-seated psychological histories of COVID-19 vaccine hesitance and resistanceWebsite:www.moffittcaspi.comAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Researcher Diane Halpern says, “When people think critically, they are evaluating the outcomes of their thought processes – how good a decision is or how well a problem is solved.” Metacognition on the other hand is thinking about one's own thinking and discovering how best to control our thinking to facilitate learning. Both require strong attentional and emotional recourses channeled as mental effort into new learning. Students who reflect on their own thinking are positioned to learn more than their peers who are not metacognitive.On this episode, award-winning professor of psychology at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and chair of the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, Stephen L. Chew, discusses barriers in cognition and learning that create a disconnect between self-knowledge and the approaches to new learning. Metacognition is a critical component of building students' executive function and education must include this science in designing learning strategies for all students.About Stephen ChewStephen L. Chew is a professor of psychology at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He also serves as chair of the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology. Trained as a cognitive psychologist, one of his primary research areas is the cognitive basis of effective teaching and learning. His research interests include the use of examples in teaching, the impact of cognitive load on learning, and the tenacious misconceptions that students bring with them into the classroom. He is the creator of a groundbreaking series of YouTube videos for students on how to study effectively in college (http://www.samford.edu/how-to-study/) which have been viewed over three million times and are in wide use from high schools to professional schools. His most recent work is on the cognitive challenges of effective teaching. He is the recipient of multiple national awards for his teaching and research, including named the 2011 Outstanding Master's Universities and Colleges U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.Book:Teaching Psychology: A Step-by-Step Guide (3rd Edition)Website:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz2tkFnv6GNdNyeoq0W4XWgAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

On October 16, 1843, while on a stroll along the Royal Canal in Dublin, mathematician William Rowan Hamilton had an aha moment which led to his famed discovery of the algebraic equations known as quaternions which is now etched on the bridge. Research shows that although creative insight and analytical thinking are distinct modes of thought, they do complement each other. These aha or eureka moments are typically considered the manifestation of creativity in a few creative geniuses; however, having access to one's own creative process can be different for different people. On this episode, professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Drexel University, Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Psychonomic Society, and international best-selling author, John Kounios, Ph.D., discusses the process and science of creative insight and analytical thinking that marks our discovery of a brilliant solution for small or big problems. We all need strong Executive Function mastery to counter the effects of a lack of insight and a lack of immersive experience into “problematic” components which can take away the focus needed for solving one's own problems.About John KouniosJohn Kounios, PhD, is a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Drexel University. He has published cognitive neuroscience research on insight, creativity, problem solving, memory, and Alzheimer's disease and coauthored (with Mark Beeman) the international Amazon Bestseller, The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain (Random House). John's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and has been reported by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times (London), National Public Radio and was featured in BBC Television and Discovery Science Channel documentaries. His work was profiled by The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post and is part of a permanent exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Psychonomic Society.Book:The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the BrainWebsite:https://sites.google.com/site/johnkounios/ About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

As the United States becomes a land of the diverse, conversations are shifting from "how do we excel in spite of our differences" to "how we come together and thrive because of our differences." The K to 12 educational spaces are also shifting the focus from helping develop skills in academic areas to the best ways to help children develop their sense of agency and sense of identity. In order to propel such cultural transformations, we have to address the relentless and commonplace occurrences of unfavorable, negative, or even traumatic experiences associated with the insidious racial tension and racialized marginalization experienced by minorities.On this episode, author, professor at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky and, Dr. DeDe Wohlfarth, discusses the idea of cultivating cultural humility against the backdrop of systemic and structural racism and the work that must be put in by the dominant group to create racially harmonized experiences for all. As we think about raising and educating children to master their Executive Function and demonstrate self-sufficiency, we need to prioritize thinking about racial inequalities and perspective shifts so that empathic support is extended to the marginalized individuals whose experiences of injustices may be hidden.About Dr. DeDe WohlfarthDr. DeDe Wohlfarth earned her bachelor's degree from Earlham College, master's degree from Ball State University, and doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Spalding University. DeDe is a full professor at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also a clinical psychologist in Indiana and Kentucky who specializes in treating children and families who are affected by intergenerational poverty, abuse and neglect, and trauma.Her focus on cultural humility (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998) intensified over the last decade as she saw the many ways racism, sexism, and heterosexism were traumatizing people.  She has since published several articles on diversity, trauma, and cultural humility, and presents regularly on the topic. Despite all this, DeDe knows she makes mistakes every day on her own diversity journey and tries to learn from them.Book:Case Studies in Child and Adolescent PsychopathologyAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

We are wired to be social and socializing and connecting depends on theory of mind, perspective taking, and being able to sympathize or empathize with others. Empathy, one of the vital ingredients for social and interpersonal success, facilitates prosocial behaviors, promotes social understanding and helps us to regulate ourselves in the complex social world. However, antisocial behaviors in others such as aggression, callousness, and other unemotional traits can wreck havoc in our social success.On this episode, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University and Director of the Marsee Aggression and Delinquency Lab (MADLab), Dr. Monica Marsee, discusses the nature of reactive and proactive aggression and ways to  expand emotional bandwidth so that complex situations can be handled with insight.About Dr. Monica MarseeDr. Monica Marsee graduated from the University of New Orleans in 2005 with a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University and is the Director of the Marsee Aggression and Delinquency Lab (MADLab). Dr. Marsee's research is generally focused on risk factors for antisocial behavior in children, adolescents, and emerging adults. Topics of interest include the forms and functions of aggression, bullying and victimization, Dark Triad and callous-unemotional traits, emotional dysregulation, and social-cognitive risk factors. Research is also focused on improving the measurement of these constructs. All research questions are grounded in a developmental psychopathology perspective, which allows for the study of the development of behavioral problems within the context of what is known about normal development.Website:https://marseelab.wixsite.com/mysiteAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Many preconceived notions and misconceptions often create a barrier to attaining personal success. Here are some frequently unchallenged misconceptions: “Talent is innate and needs to be discovered”, “You either have talent or you don't” and “Just a few lucky ones have it and it only counts if you're on top!” The growth mindsets captured by popular culture show us that our own fears and vulnerabilities set us up for social comparisons and only by challenging these myths and putting in the hard work, can one harness their personal power. On this episode, global keynote speaker, facilitator, and guide supporting leaders developing growth mindset cultures, Eduardo Briceño, discusses how mindsets work, why stress is a trigger for a fixed mindset and ways to promote a growth mindset and continuous improvement in ourselves, our children, and our colleagues. Well-cultivated growth mindsets, particularly in the area of challenge, is a mark of strong executive function crucial for personal growth, performance, and resilience.About Eduardo BriceñoEduardo Briceño is a global keynote speaker, facilitator, and guide supporting leaders developing growth mindset cultures.  Prior to that he was the CEO of Mindset Works, the pioneer in growth mindset development services, which he cofounded in 2007 with Stanford professor Carol Dweck and others, and which he led for over a decade.  Before that he was a technology investor with Credit Suisse's venture capital arm and served on several for-profit and non-profit boards.Eduardo's TED talks have been viewed by millions. He is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow, a member of the Aspen Institute's Global Leadership Network, and an inductee in the Happiness Hall of Fame.Eduardo grew up in Caracas, Venezuela. He holds bachelor's degrees in economics and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MBA and M.A. in education from Stanford University. Most importantly, he continues to enjoy lifelong learning every day.Website:https://www.briceno.com/About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Whether it is enduring the process of untangling yarn, cancelling all your credit cards after losing your wallet, or waiting for months to hear back from a college admissions' office, patience makes the experience more meaningful and less unbearable. As a quality that is considered morally good and desirable in a person, no wonder patience is a virtue as it offers a much-needed chance to maintain or regain our strength while seeing where we are and what we are made of. On this episode,  Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and  Editor for Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Dr. Sarah Schnitker, discusses her research in the area of patience, why it is a virtue, and reasons why it's a tough but worthy skill to master. Strong Executive Function skills help set goals, follow through and accomplish them over time, and learning to become more patient could be an excellent investment in such skill building.About Dr. Sarah SchnitkerDr. Sarah Schnitker is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University. She holds a PhD and an MA in Personality and Social Psychology from the University of California, Davis, and a BA in Psychology from Grove City College.  Schnitker studies virtue and character development in adolescents and emerging adults, with a focus on the role of spirituality and religion in virtue formation. She specializes in the study of patience, self-control, gratitude, generosity, and thrift.  Schnitker has procured more than $7 million in funding as a principal investigator on multiple research grants, and she has published in a variety of scientific journals and edited volumes.  Schnitker is an Associate Editor for Psychology of Religion and Spirituality and an Editorial Board member for Journal of Research in Personality. She is a dedicated mentor, having served as dissertation advisor for more than 20 doctoral students, whom she helps to cultivate intellectual virtues alongside scientific competencies. She is the recipient of the Virginia Sexton American Psychological Association's Division 36 Mentoring Award and Student International Positive Psychology Association Mentor Award. Website:https://sites.baylor.edu/science-of-virtues/ Books:Acedia and Me by Kathleen NorrisPatience: How We Wait Upon the World by David Bailey HarnedAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Alfred Hitchcock, Sherlock Holmes… these are some of the iconic names dominating the cultural narrative that men far supersede women in talent, accomplishment, and genius. The true question is, while the gender ratio in the world is 101.7 men to every 100 women, why is the genius exclusively favoring one gender or it is that the opportunities to let out one's own inner genius is not created equal?On this episode, journalist, TV producer, and author of 15 popular books including the New York Times bestseller, The Gratitude Diaries and The Genius of Women, Janice Kaplan, discusses why the talent and genius of women has been unacknowledged, dismissed, or even wrongfully attributed to men. As we think of educating our girls and position women to make their mark on this world, explicit effort must be made to identify, encourage, and celebrate the unique skills in women because it's not the norm for them to be recognized as geniuses.About Janice KaplanDr. Chesney is a licensed clinical psychologist with unique expertise in the application of Janice Kaplan is a journalist, TV producer, and the author of many popular books including the New York Times bestseller The Gratitude Diaries and her newest book, The Genius of Women. Janice was the editor-in-chief of Parade magazine and the executive producer of more than 30 primetime network television specials. She has appeared frequently on TV shows including Today and Good Morning America and she hosts the daily podcast The Gratitude Diaries on iHeartMedia.Website:www.janicekaplan.comBooks:The Genius of WomenThe Gratitude DiariesHow Luck HappensAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

In 2002, American writer Augusten Burroughs' memoire, Running with Scissors, was launched and spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The memoir is littered with a litany of bizarre childhood encounters experienced by young Burroughs, whose emotionally unstable, aspiring poet of a mother sends him to live with her psychiatrist. The book, while entertaining, captures the confusion and pain of growing up in a household with no rules, no boundaries, and no guidance. Our good faith effort to raise well-adjusted, emotionally balanced and psychological-wise children and teens is far too often met with challenges, uncertainty, and even chaos revealing the herculean task of preparing children to become responsible adults.On this episode,  licensed clinical psychologist, expert in the application of TEAM CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) to children and adolescents and  director of the new Feeling Good Institute-New York City, Taylor Chesney, Psy.D., discusses how hard it is to educate children on top of raising them to become well-adjusted adults. She shares her work in improving mental health and coping skills while getting kids to cooperate, engage, and manage themselves.About Taylor Chesney, Psy.D.Dr. Chesney is a licensed clinical psychologist with unique expertise in the application of TEAM CBT to children and adolescents. A graduate of the School-Clinical-Child Psychology Psy.D. program at Pace University in New York City, Dr. Chesney then trained with Dr. David Burns at Stanford University and her fellow therapists at FGI for several years mastering TEAM CBT. She teaches TEAM CBT for the Feeling Good Institute and is the director of the new Feeling Good Institute-New York City. Dr. Chesney also supervises psychiatry residents in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.Websites:www.feelinggoodnyc.comwww.feelinggoodinstitute.comAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Working memory is the most vital component of strong Executive Function as it allows for processing multifaceted information and tracking new systems we deploy to manage change or challenge with adaptive flexibility. For example, greeting people with a handshake or a hug was thrown out the window during the pandemic. In the fall of 2021, when people began to return to business-as-usual, people needed a new system to communicate their level of comfort with social proximity and interpersonal space. Some proposed a three-dot system - green dot for hugs, yellow for elbow bump, and the red for keeping a distance. By thinking on their feet,  creative marketers and  event organizers created bracelets, stickers, and dots on their lanyards so that the participants could show who's comfortable with what level of touching and handshaking.On this episode, retired school psychologist, Associate Professor, School Psychology Program Director at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and current Test Development Project Director for Schoolhouse Educational Services, Dr. Milton J. Dehn, discusses the link between working memory and metacognition and Executive Function and ways to support and promote the development of these skills to improve the learning experience of children and functional outcomes for all.About Dr. Milton J. DehnMilton J. Dehn, Ed.D., was a practicing school psychologist, an Associate Professor, and School Psychology Program Director at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse until his retirement. Currently, he is the test development project director for Schoolhouse Educational Services. His interests include assessment of cognitive abilities, memory, dyslexia, and executive functions and using a pattern of strengths and weaknesses approach to the identification of specific learning disabilities.Website:www.SchoolhouseEducationalServices.comBook:Essentials of Working Memory Assessment and InterventionWorking Memory and Academic LearningHelping Students RememberAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

The human frontal-lobe evolution has made it possible to do the right thing, particularly when that right thing is really hard to do. While faith, religion, and spirituality give individuals the essential inner strength, attachment, and security, it is the mature frontal lobes that turn on moral reasoning - a bridge towards an ultimate sense of hope and meaning.On this episode, licensed clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, Julie Exline, Ph.D., shares her research on the interface of clinical, social, and personality psychology, and spirituality, religion, and existential concerns. Her work shows that suffering ignites personal growth and spiritual struggles end up elevating people's lives.About Dr. Julie ExlineJulie Exline, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  Her research centers on the interface of clinical, social, and personality psychology, with a special focus on topics involving spirituality, religion, and existential concerns. She served as Principal Investigator on two projects funded by the John Templeton Foundation: one on religious/spiritual struggles and another on supernatural attributions. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in Ohio and has been certified as a spiritual director through the Ignatian Spirituality Institute at John Carroll University. She is a Past President of the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (SPRS; American Psychological Association's Division 36) and was chosen to receive the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award, Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award, and William James Award from SPRS. With Dr. Kenneth Pargament, she co-authored the 2021 book Working with Spiritual Struggles in Psychotherapy: From Research to Practice. Her current research focuses on a wide array of themes around spiritual struggles and supernatural attributions, including gratitude and anger toward God, perceptions of after-death communication, beliefs about supernatural evil, and the many ways that people perceive “God's voice” in their lives.Website:https://psychsciences.case.edu/faculty/julie-exline/Book:Working with spiritual struggles in psychotherapy: From research to practiceAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

‘A quick trip to Tahiti' is what it feels like when our mind wanders. No matter what we do, where we are, or how important or valuable the task in front of us is, our minds wander. Interestingly, the research shows that we are less happy when our mind wanders than when it doesn't and what we think about during our mind wandering state is a far stronger predictor of our happiness than tasks we are in the middle of performing. Yet, the mind highjacked by mind-wandering can stay oblivious to its short trips.On this episode, researcher, author, and distinguished professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara, Jonathan Schooler, Ph. D., discusses his work in human cognition; particularly mind-wandering, its disruptive nature, its hidden benefits, and its link to meta-awareness. As he explains, since the mind is only intermittently aware of engaging in mind wandering, enhancing meta-awareness can be an important process to heighten monitoring and improve executive function.About Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D.Jonathan Schooler Ph.D. is a Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara.  He earned his BA from Hamilton College in 1981 and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1987. His research on human cognition explores topics that intersect philosophy and psychology, such as how fluctuations in people's awareness of their experience mediate mind-wandering and how exposing individuals to philosophical positions alters their behavior.  He is also interested in the science of science (meta-science) including understanding why effects sizes often decline over time, and how greater transparency in scientific reporting might address this issue. A former holder of a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, he is a fellow of a variety of scientific organizations, on the editorial board of a number of psychology journals and the recipient of major grants from both the United States and Canadian governments as well as several private foundations. His research and comments are frequently featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Nature Magazine.Website:https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/schooler/jonathan/About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

When we think of equitable teaching and learning we must first get our assumptions right. Instead of thinking of teaching as a process of transmitting knowledge, we need to think about teaching as a process of transforming hearts by making a connection through culture and representation. Those of us invested in teaching and reaching children know that the hardest work we will ever do is to ignite their natural intellectual curiosity while nurturing their sense of belonging. However, according to an at-risk youth and college dropout turned award-winning educator, Brandon P. Fleming, “We can't reach people we don't understand”.On this episode, nationally acclaimed Assistant Debate Coach at Harvard University, Founder/CEO of the Harvard Diversity Project, and author of MISEDUCATED: A Memoir, Brandon P. Fleming, shares his story of struggle, success, and service which has inspired millions around the world. Strong and well-built Executive Function makes it possible to overcome personal adversity, but evolved Executive Function skills make world transformation possible. About Brandon P. FlemingBrandon P. Fleming is a nationally acclaimed Harvard educator and author of MISEDUCATED: A Memoir. His story of struggle, success, and service has inspired millions around the world. An at-risk youth and college dropout turned award-winning educator, Fleming is Assistant Debate Coach at Harvard University and Founder/CEO of the Harvard Diversity Project. Fleming was recruited to join the Harvard debate faculty at the age of 27. Harvard later approved Fleming's proposal to establish a new department within the university system called the Harvard Diversity Project – an unprecedented pipeline program of the Harvard Debate Council. Fleming now leads an executive staff and board that has raised over a million dollars to enroll over 100 students of color into Harvard's international summer debate residency on full scholarship. Fleming recruits underserved youth with no prior debate experience who he then trains to compete against hundreds of elite debaters from over 25 different countries around the world. For four consecutive years, since the program's inception in 2017, every cohort trained by Fleming has won the international competition. News of the achievement instantly went viral and broke national headlines, being featured on CNN, ESPN, GMA, and many more. Fleming has established a groundbreaking organization that is pipelining Black youth into Ivy League and elite colleges & universities.  Fleming's story, erudition, and achievements have enabled him to use his voice to inspire and impact lives in places ranging from federal prisons to global platforms such as the United Nations General Assembly. At the age of 29, Forbes Magazine named Fleming to the Forbes 30 under 30 list.  In 2020, The Root Magazine named Fleming one of the top 100 most influential African-Americans in the United States.  And in May 2021, North Carolina Wesleyan College bestowed upon Fleming the honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.  Websites:https://bpfleming.comhttps://harvarddcdp.org About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

What is as ubiquitous as air, water, and earth, but possibly more potent than all three? It's a story. The human brain, while swept up in the forcefield of stories, is enthralled, molded and shaped by it, but is also readily deceived by the artful embellishments by powerful story-tellers, including an unreliable narrator within. Our daily consumption of narratives presented in the form of news clips, Tiktok clips, social media posts, novella, novels, plays, or films capture our imagination while shaping our beliefs, ideas, and even our ideology.  While stories may feel like all they do is carve a path through the landscapes of make-believe, they are far more powerful and integral to our ability to navigate life's complex social-interpersonal conflicts and unimagined or unimaginable human experiences.On today's podcast, Distinguished Fellow in the English Department at Washington and Jefferson College and an author whose writing is at the intersection of science and art, and whose work has been covered in-depth by publications including Science, Nature, Scientific American, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Oprah Magazine, Jonathan Gottschall, discusses how and why storytelling has evolved as a means to ensuring our survival. Since Executive Function skills allow us to manage our life, our goals, and our actions while tuning out unsavory emotions and amping-up motivation or grit, it might be good to think about the role stories play in tackling mental rigidity and emotional inflexibility that challenges and chaos invoke.About Jonathan GottschallPraised by Steven Pinker as “our deepest thinker about the powerful role of stories in our lives,” Jonathan Gottschall is a Distinguished Fellow in the English Department at Washington & Jefferson College. His writing at the intersection of science and art has been covered in-depth by The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Scientific American, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Oprah Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Science, Nature, and on shows like Radiolab, Morning Edition, National Geographic's StarTalk with Neal de Grasse Tyson, and The Joe Rogan Experience. Jonathan is the author or editor of eight books, including The Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch (Penguin 2015), The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (Houghton 2012), and The Story Paradox: How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears them Down (Basic Books, November 2021), which is a about the dark side of humanity's storytelling instincts.  Website: http://www.jonathangottschall.comBooks: The Story Paradox: How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears them DownThe Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us HumanThe Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to WatchAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

The highest rent you'll ever pay is for the hurts, sorrows, and unforgiveness that occupy the space in your heart and mind. While thinking of those hurtful breakups, toxic relationships, unresolved lies, or the unrepairable damaging acts of others, it may be hard to channel the wisdom of poet Edwin Hubbel Chapin, "Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge.” However, what ancient wisdom already has known, the research now shows that there's an extraordinary healing power in taking steps to forgive others and even yourself.On this episode, Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, clinical psychologist, and author, Dr. Everett Worthington, Ph.D., discusses how forgiveness is a choice and a skill that can emerge with appropriate mental framing and psychological and prosocial practices.About Everett L Worthington, JrEverett Worthington, Ph.D., is Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a Faculty Affiliate appointment at the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (Human Flourishing Program). He continues to be active in research and speaking around the world. He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia. He has published over 40 books and around 500 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, humility and positive psychology, marriage, and family topics, and religion and spirituality. He also has developed the REACH Forgiveness model being tested currently in a global grant-funded randomized controlled trials in 5 countries (six sites), and he has developed numerous other positive psychological interventions.Website: www.EvWorthington-forgiveness.com Books: Forgiving and reconciling: Bridges to wholeness and hopeHeroic humility: What the science of humility can say to people raised on self focusHow do I forgive? (A brief pamphlet)Moving forward: Six steps to forgiving yourself and breaking free from the pastThe power of forgivingAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

What is an intriguing difference between a four-year-old's versus a forty-year old's approach to the world? Only one of them is inquisitive and inventive with a rich inner explorer. However, by the time the curious and inventive four-year-old enters their late teens, there is a remarkable depletion in their sense of exploration. There's something about the way we educate and raise children that drains their inquiring minds from investigating life's mysteries and tackling problems that interest them.On this episode, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College and author of multiple books including The Intellectual Lives of Children, Dr. Susan Engel, discusses what fuels children's curiosity: a sense of inquiry and inventiveness. To raise self-sufficient children who possess strong executive function means to figure out ways to hang back while nurturing their inner Dora the Explorer.About Susan EngelSusan Engel is Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She is co-founder of an experimental school in NY State, where she was the educational advisor for 18 years. Her research interests include the development of narrative, curiosity, and invention. Her current research examines how children pursue ideas. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Cognitive Development, Harvard Educational Review, and the American Education Research Journal. Her writing on education has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg View, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, Salon, Huffington Post, and The Boston Globe. Her books include: The End of the Rainbow: How educating for happiness (not money) would transform our schools, The Hungry Mind: The origins of curiosity in childhood, and The Children You Teach: Using a Developmental Framework in the Classroom. Her ninth book, The Intellectual Lives of Children, was published by Harvard University Press, this past January.  She and her husband Tom have three sons and two very young grandchildren. Books: The Intellectual Lives of ChildrenThe Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in ChildhoodThe End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness (Not Money) Would Transform Our SchoolsAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Entering a space full of strangers can be as scary as entering a snake pit. The brain cannot help but think “oh-no” and is likely to look for an exit strategy. Even though humans are social creatures, approaching or engaging with strangers invokes unparalleled fear or social anxiety that keeps us from making connections, sharing, or seeking help. Is this hesitation to talk with strangers legit and true?On this episode, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex and introvert who has grown to love talking to strangers in her Twitter series #Talking2Strangers, Dr. Gillian Sandstrom, discusses how blind we are to the positive effects of interacting with strangers, and how there's a way to shift and pivot from such mindsets to grow to making more meaningful connections with the world around us.  About Dr. Gillian SandstromDr. Gillian Sandstrom is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. She studies the benefits of and barriers to having minimal social interactions, with people like strangers and weak ties (i.e., acquaintances). She is an introvert who has grown to love talking to strangers. She shares her stories of #Talking2Strangers on Twitter @GillianSocial, in the hopes of encouraging more people to reach out and connect.Website:https://www.gilliansandstrom.comRecommended Books: The Power of Strangers, by Joe KeohaneWe Need to Talk, by Celeste HeadleeSorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come, by Jessica Panhttps://hbr.org/2020/04/why-you-miss-those-casual-friends-so-muchAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

British author Somerset Maugham once wrote, “What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories.” Writers and poets have a lot to say about reminiscing, contemplation, regret and nostalgia, but it often suggests that one must travel far down the road of life to arrive at that point where suddenly our life decisions say more about who we are rather than what we did!On this episode, professor at Stanford University, director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and leading scholar of human development across the lifespan and  author of A Round of Golf With My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace With Your Present, William Damon, discusses why the process of Life-Review is a productive way of looking back. Since Executive Function skills provide the guardrail for self-regulated future-forward thinking, the Life-Review process can prove to be a painful or invigorating process depending on our openness to self-change, capacity to admit mistakes, and desire to stay connected to the past-self to shape the journey of the future self.About William DamonWilliam Damon is a professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence. He is a leading scholar of human development across the lifespan and the author of The Path to Purpose. His recent book, A Round of Golf with my Father: The New Psychology of Exploring your Life to Make Peace with Your Present, is an examination of using a life review to renew personal identity and forge a purposeful direction moving forward. Damon is a fellow in the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Damon has been named by Best Schools as one of the fifty most influential living psychologists in the world today. Website:https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/wdamonBooks: A Round of Golf with my Father: The New Psychology of Exploring your Past to Make Peace with your PresentThe Path to PurposeAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Helping children develop their identity is integral to making them self-sufficient and independent, as well as to master their Executive Function skills. In addition to children's cognitive, linguistic, and emotional development, parents and educators alike must understand the social science behind the development of racial, ethnic, and cultural identities, which play a major role in shaping a child's lens on life and how they relate to other racial and ethnic groups different than their own.On this episode, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum—President Emerita at Spelman College, a clinical psychologist, and the author of several books including the best-selling book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, discusses racial identity development among children growing up in the U.S.. Throughout this conversation, she brings to life a crucial perspective raised in her book that “people, by being ignorant or unaware of race, can unwittingly perpetuate a cycle of oppression.”.About Dr. Beverly Daniel TatumDr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita of Spelman College, is a clinical psychologist widely known for her expertise on race relations and as a leader in higher education.  In 2013 she was recognized with the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award.  Author of several books including the best-selling “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations About Race, she was the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. A civic leader in the Atlanta community, Dr. Tatum serves on the boards of Westside Future Fund, Achieve Atlanta, Morehouse College and the Tull Charitable Foundation.  She is also a trustee of Sesame Workshop, Smith College and the Educational Testing Service.She holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan as well as an M.A. in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary.  Website:http://www.BeverlyDanielTatum.comBooks: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About RaceCan We Talk About Race? and Other Conversations in an Era of School ResegregationAssimilation Blues: Black Families in White CommunitiesAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

What's the urgent and yet preventable crisis in America? It's poverty! The discussion about the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, down-regulation of amygdala as well as the flourishing of Executive Function skills throughout childhood is incomplete when according to the Children's Defense Fund one in six children in United States live in poverty. The impact of poverty is deep and wide taking not only a biological, psychological, and social toll on children but also on the nation's GDP in lost productivity, diminished health outcomes, and even elevated crime rates. On this episode, the nation's leading authority on resiliency and applied brain science,  educational consultant, and author of many books including The Poverty Problem, Horacio Sanchez discusses how building resiliency in children must include assisting them to form meaningful connections and build close relationships. By supporting kids during  critical times, we can activate the protective factors and strengthen their Executive Function in spite of the vast array of negative experiences of economic and other hardships.About Horacio SanchezHoracio Sanchez is a highly sought-after speaker and educational consultant, helping schools learn to apply neuroscience to improve educational outcomes.  He presents on diverse topics such as overcoming the impact of poverty, improving school climate, engaging in brain-based instruction, and addressing issues related to implicit bias. He is recognized as one of the nation's leading authorities on resiliency and applied brain science.Horacio has been a teacher, administrator, clinician, mental health director, and consultant to school districts across the United States. Horacio sits on the True Health Initiative Council of Directors, a coalition of more than 250 world-renowned health experts, committed to educating on proven principles of lifestyle as medicine. He is the author of the best-selling book, The Education Revolution, which applies brain science to improve instruction, behaviors, and school climate.  His new book, The Poverty Problem, explains how education can promote resilience and counter poverty's impact on brain development and functioning.Website:https://www.resiliencyinc.comBooks: The Poverty ProblemThe Education RevolutionHelpful Articles:Poverty's Impact on Reading https://corwin-connect.com/2021/01/povertys-impact-on-reading/Do Students Really Learn From Failure https://corwin-connect.com/2017/09/students-really-learn-failures/About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Douglas Horton has said, “While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself.” Nothing is quite as satisfying as well-executed revenge where by taking  justice into one's own hands feels empowering, quenching the thirst for fairness. However, there's another option;  conventional wisdom often refers to as taking the higher road; letting the better-self win against the catty, shallow, and spiteful self. So why do we struggle to forgive?On this episode, Professor of Psychology,  Director of Training for the Counseling Psychology Program, and Founding Director of Network Community Counseling Services, Nathaniel Wade, Ph.D., discusses forgiveness as a mechanism for successful emotional, cognitive, and even spiritual coping when dealing with hurt and the transgressions of others. While forgiveness marks emotional maturation and symbolizes personal healing it is as much of an art as science!About Nathaniel WadeNathaniel Wade received his PhD from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003 and joined Iowa State that same year. He is a Professor of Psychology, the Director of Training for the Counseling Psychology Program, and Founding Director of Network Community Counseling Services. He is also a licensed Psychologist in the state of Iowa. Dr. Wade's research interests center on the processes and outcomes of psychotherapy. Specifically, he has worked in the area of developing and testing interventions to promote forgiveness, understanding the impact of integrating religion and spirituality into psychotherapy, and exploring and developing interventions to reduce the stigma associated with seeking counseling. He has published over 100 articles and book chapters, he is co-editor of two scholarly Handbooks, and has received grant funding from federal and private granting agencies. When not working, Dr. Wade spends time with his family and loves to pretend he is still in his 20's and plays soccer each week.Books: Handbook of Forgiveness, Second Edition (2020)Cambridge Handbook of Stigma and Mental Health (upcoming)About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

“I like you exactly the way you are.” These are the words brought to life by beloved TV host, Fred Rogers, and seems to be exactly what children need to know and experience that they are valued and loved. As  culture has taken the time to pause and reflect on the powerful teachings of Mr. Rogers in the heavily consumed medium of television, the evidence in the neuroscience, learning, and developmental psychology shows how deeply effective his methodologies have been all along. With multiple documentaries, a bestselling biography, and a movie starring Tom Hanks, the world of child rearing and education has seen a Mister Rogers' renaissance over the past few years and it is time to take these lessons to heart.On this episode, authors of the book When You Wonder, You're Learning, Gregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation and science and education writer Ryan Rydzewski discuss “the Fred method”, a blueprint left behind by Mr. Fred Rogers that honors the potential in every child to come into oneself. Pause, reflect and then respond is a primary lesson fervently put into practice by Mr. Rogers and also seems to be the practice that promotes executive function and self-agency in every child.About Gregg BehrGregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation, is a father and children's advocate whose work is inspired by his hero, Fred Rogers. For more than a decade, he has helped lead Remake Learning—a network of educators, scientists, artists, and makers he founded in 2007—to international renown. Formed in Rogers' real-life neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Remake Learning has turned heads everywhere from Forbes to the World Economic Forum for its efforts to ignite children's curiosity, encourage creativity, and foster justice and belonging in schools, libraries, museums, and more. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and also Duke University, Gregg holds honorary degrees from Carlow University and Saint Vincent College. He's an advisor to the Brookings Institution and the Fred Rogers Center, and has been cited by Barack Obama, Richard Branson, and the Disruptor Foundation as an innovator and thought leader.About Ryan RydzewskiRyan Rydzewski is a writer whose science and education reporting has garnered several awards and fellowships. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, he taught elementary school in south Louisiana before earning an MFA in nonfiction writing from Chatham University. As a freelancer, his magazine stories focus on everything from schools to space travel to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and his poems and other pieces appear in several journals. A native of Erie, Pennsylvania, Ryan lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Jacqueline. Book: When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring KidsWebsites:https://www.whenyouwonder.orghttps://www.ryanrydzewski.comAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Conventional wisdom propels the notion that children from low-income backgrounds perform poorly because their families are less invested or do not value education as much as those from higher-income backgrounds. However, by applying a sociological framework to education, the evidence shows that schools, instead of contributing to the breaking of economic and social barriers, are actively widening the achievement gap by furthering inequalities. How do we rethink these challenges and actualize our belief that all students are brimming with the same potential to develop an internal drive and curiosity for learning? Fostering a child's agency means helping them to help themselves in such a way that they can overcome obstacles and create positive changes in their own lives.On this episode, education sociologist, professor of Educational Leadership at Florida International University, and author of “The Power of Student Agency”, Anindya Kundu, Ph.D., discusses how to help educators and stakeholders build practical resources that enhance children's lives while inspiring them to take learning into their own hands. No matter how diverse students' backgrounds may be, all students possess the capacity to leverage resources and master their own Executive Function in order to navigate a world of uncertainty and challenge through a cultivated sense of agency. About Dr. Anindya KunduAnindya Kundu is an acclaimed education sociologist and incoming professor of Educational Leadership at Florida International University. His book, The Power of Student Agency, has been touted as a critical and practical resource for educators and stakeholders in the lives of children. Anindya studies how students overcome challenges and the support systems that help all young people thrive. He is an award winning educator who believes that collective responsibility is what will help us improve our systems of education.Website:https://www.AnindyaKundu.comBook: The Power of Student Agency: Looking Beyond Grit to Close the Opportunity GapAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

When the New York Times in a student opinion piece asked “How do you think American education could be improved?”, Skye Williams from Sarasota, Florida wrote, ”I think that the American education system can be improved by allowing students to choose the classes that they wish to take or classes that are beneficial for their future. Students aren't really learning things that can help them in the future such as basic reading and math.” Skye's comment captures the fact that schooling experiences of American children is far from homogenous and the multitudes of factors that shape their beliefs, behaviors, performance, and identities vary dramatically based on the context, systems, and learning environments. On this episode, Senior Research Associate and Director of the Equitable Learning and Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, Camille Farrington, Ph.D., discusses how school structures and teacher practices can and do empower young learners to make sense of their daily schooling experiences and help transform them into well-prepared young adults. About Camille A FarringtonCamille A. Farrington is a Senior Research Associate and Director of the Equitable Learning & Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Her work focuses on understanding learning environments as constructed, developmental spaces in the context of systemic racism and inequality. She seeks to understand how young people make sense of daily schooling experiences and how school structures and teacher practices shape students' beliefs, behaviors, identities, performance, and development.  As a principal investigator for the Equitable Learning & Development Project/Next System Learning Collaborative and the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network, she collaborates with educators, scholars, students, and families to reimagine and transform public education to support human learning, development, and well-being. Camille's publications include Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework (2015); Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance (2012); and Failing at School: Lessons for Redesigning Urban High Schools (2014). Camille's research draws on her 15-year experience as a public high school teacher. She holds a BA from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Website:https://consortium.uchicago.edu/equitable_learning_and_developmentHelpful Articles:Measure Learning Environments, NotJust Students, to Support Learning and DevelopmentAcademic Mindsets as a Critical Component of Deeper Learning About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

In 2015, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner something hilarious transpired. President Obama invited Luther, his anger translator, on the stage with him and the Comedian Keegan-Michael Key obliged. The tongue in cheek display of Obama's true frustrations expressed through “Luther” was not only ironic but brilliant reminding us how we all need an anger handler.On this episode author, researcher and associate dean, Ryan Martin, Ph.D., discusses what anger is, why we get angry, and how it also serves a purpose and has benefits. A predictable response to stress and obstacles in learning is slowly escalating frustration; which tends to manifest itself as irritation or annoyance at first but more of an anger or even rage down the road. Those who are interested in Executive Function can gain insight from this discussion to learn to manage anger and related negative behaviors which often gets undue attention more so than the underlying learning obstacles. About Dr. Ryan MartinDr. Ryan Martin researches and writes on healthy and unhealthy expressions of anger. His book, Why We Get Mad: How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change, explores why people become angry, some of the common consequences of anger, and how people can use their anger in productive ways.  Ryan also hosts the popular psychology podcast, Psychology and Stuff.  He was trained as a counseling psychologist at the University of Southern Mississippi where he first started studying anger after earning his undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice from the University of St. Thomas.  He has worked with clients- angry and otherwise- in a variety of settings including community mental health centers, college counseling centers, and a VA Hospital.He is a Professor of Psychology and an Associate Dean for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.  His work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR's Invisibilia podcast, BBC Radio's Digital Human, TED.com, and elsewhere.  When he's not thinking about feelings, he runs and spends time with his family.  Website:http://alltheragescience.com/martin/Helpful Articles:How to Be Angry: https://psyche.co/guides/anger-is-a-potent-beneficial-force-if-used-in-the-right-wayTED: Why We Get Mad -  https://www.ted.com/talks/ryan_martin_why_we_get_mad_and_why_it_s_healthy?language=en#t-427199About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

The schooling of American children is marred by our notions that hard and long hours of classroom learning is a defining feature of K-12 school success even though such environments lack a playful approach to learning or room for imaginative interactions with the world. In their book Out of My Skull, Neuroscientists James Danckert & John D. Eastwood write, “When we have a sense of meaning and purpose in life, options for engagement with the world are evident and compelling.” So if we know this about schooling, learning, and engagement then why is it so hard for us to pivot?  On this episode, globally recognized voice in education, Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, and author of many books including a memoir, Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education, Tony Wagner, Ph.D. discusses how his own childhood learning experiences that were neither pleasant nor rewarding failed to channel his natural curiosity and what it took for him to find his way back to flourishing as a life-long learner.About Tony WagnerA globally recognized voice in education, Tony Wagner currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, founded by Linda Darling-Hammond in 2015. Prior to this appointment, Tony held a variety of positions at Harvard University for more than twenty years, including four years as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director, for more than a decade, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility.Tony is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. His work includes numerous articles and seven books, including three best-sellers: Most Likely To Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for The Innovation Era, co-authored by Ted Dintersmith, was published by Scribner in 2015. Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, was published in 2012 to rave reviews and has been translated into 19 languages. His 2008 book, The Global Achievement Gap continues to be an international best seller, with more than 150,000 copies in print. Tony's memoir, Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education, was published by Penguin/Random House in 2020.Tony served as the Strategic Education Advisor for a major new education documentary, “Most Likely to Succeed,” which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and has since been shown in more than 11,000 communities around the world. He also collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60 minute documentary, “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World's Most Surprising School System.”About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Poet and philosopher Rumi once wrote, “Love is the bridge between you and everything.” As much as a loving bond between people may be the starting point for close relationships, the future of it however, is shaped by stress, communication, coping, mental health, and interpersonal support; which are the defining factors that allow those relationships to last or crumble. Bicker, squabble, argue, wrangle, fight, disagree, dispute, and spar are some of things that we do when we're in a relationship with someone that we care about. Without the full knowledge of the psychological science behind it, it's hard to know if the behaviors and approaches to conflict resolution are effective or even healthy. On this episode, relationship expert, award-winning teacher, professor at Monmouth University and author of Stronger Than You Think: The 10 blind spots that undermine your relationship and how to see past them, Dr. Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., discusses how seeking personal growth and undergoing self-expansion can help us grow. Relationships are the vehicles to broaden the lens we use to look at ourselves and inspecting our blind spots can carry tremendous benefit.About Dr. Gary LewandowskiDr. Gary W. Lewandowski Jr. is a an award-winning teacher, researcher, writer, and relationship expert. He is a Professor at Monmouth University and author of Stronger Than You Think: The 10 Blind Spots That Undermine Your Relationship…and How to See Past Them, and co-author of an innovative research methods text, Discovering the Scientist Within. His work has been featured by the Washington Post, IFLScience.com, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Salon, The New Republic, Time, the New York Times, The Atlantic, VICE, CNN, and NPR. His TEDx talk, “Break-ups Don't Have to Leave You Broken” has viewed over 2 million times, while his relationship articles have been enjoyed by over 3.5 million readers.Websites: http://www.GaryLewandowski.comhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thepsychology-relationshipsAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

On February 18, 1981, Mr. Rogers asked Jeffrey Erlinger a 10-year old quadriplegic with multiple challenges to show the television viewers how his wheelchair worked and by celebrating Jeffrey with warmth and amazement, Mr. Rogers helped crystalized the modern neurodiversity movement. For a long time, normal and abnormal have been the only two concrete buckets cultures have used to determine an individual's worth and value based on their capacity to partake in and serve the workforce. And by pathologizing physical or mental challenges and various brain conditions, we have deemed such individuals as either subhuman or useless. On this episode, author of Nobody's Normal and Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington University, Roy Richard Grinker, discusses how disability and the stigma associated with it are social constructs and invites all of us to investigate the history social stigma which has led to the ‘invention' of mental illness. As today's citizens do their best to fit in the capitalistic world that demands a productive and self-sufficient worker, let's not forget that everyone can be productive in their own ways and contribute meaningfully if we expand the definition of normal and socially acceptable.About Roy Richard GrinkerRoy Richard Grinker is Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Grinker was born and raised in Chicago where his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father worked as psychoanalysts. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1983 and received his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at Harvard University in 1989.He is the author of Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness and Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.Grinker is also the author of In the Arms of Africa: The Life of Colin M. Turnbull, Korea and its Futures: Unification and the Unfinished War, and Houses in the Rainforest: Ethnicity and Inequality among Farmers and Foragers in Central Africa. He is co-editor of Perspectives on Africa: Culture, History, and Representation and Companion to the Anthropology of Africa.He was a 2008 recipient of the National Alliance on Mental Illness KEN award for “outstanding contribution to the understanding of mental illness” and the 2010 recipient of the American Anthropological Association's Anthropology in the Media award for “communication of anthropology to the general public through the media.”Website: www.royrichardgrinker.com About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

In his 1890 seminal book, The Principles of Psychology, William James wrote, “There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.” One such key form of indecision is procrastination; and research shows that procrastinators act as if there's no future. There is a way however, to rein in the reckless disregard for the future-self by evoking the empathic connection between the present and future-self. On this episode, psychologist and expert on imagination and wellbeing, coach at Impact Hub Ottawa, and owner of Bevy Creative, Eve-Marie Blouin-Hudon, Ph.D. discusses how we can and should help people change their connection to their future-self which has multitude of benefits including reduction in procrastination. A key function of strengthening Executive Function is to alter behaviors and actions to attain goals set by self and bring the needs of the future-self to become fruitful.About Dr. Eve-Marie Blouin-HudonEve-Marie Blouin-Hudon is a psychologist and expert on imagination and wellbeing. Based on her research, she teaches courses at Carleton University on the psychology of creativity and innovation, coaches at Impact Hub Ottawa, and offers consulting to individuals and organizations through her business Bevy Creative. She is also the Organizational Health lead at Statistics Canada, where her team helps employees adapt to change and experience greater psychosocial health.Website: http://ww.bevycreative.comAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Not now, later! These are three words we have come to value. The Marshmallow experiment from the 1960s popularized the idea of self-control and brought it into cultural consciousness; however, sometimes it has mislead us to think that kids who don't wait for two marshmallows at the age of 4 might be destined to lead less fruitful lives. Instead of focusing on self-control through a narrow lens as an individual's choice-making ability, there's another way to view this complex process using broader constructs such as social regulation in the face of conflicting tendencies, ideas, and desires.On this episode, Dr. Sabine Doebel,  Assistant Professor at George Mason University, discusses how creative and novel experimental designs can help explore the social and conceptual processes behind self-control skills in children across many contexts. Those who care about helping children develop self-regulation should consider giving them opportunities to acquire a wide-range of experiences and knowledge to benefit from the cultural context.About Sabine Doebel, PhDSabine leads the Developing Minds Lab in the Department of Psychology at George Mason University. The lab focuses on questions related to how we become capable of  exercising conscious control over our thoughts and actions in the pursuit of goals  (executive function), and how this capacity develops through experience, particularly social experience.She completed her Ph.D. at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota (advisors: Melissa Koenig and Philip D. Zelazo), and her NIH-funded postdoc at the University of Colorado Boulder (advisor: Yuko Munakata). Sabine is interested in cognitive development, with much of her research to date focusing on the development of executive function -- the ability to control thoughts and actions in the service of goals, especially in the face of conflicting habits, desires, or tendencies. She's particularly interested in how social and conceptual processes may support the development of skills in using control across contexts. Sabine is also doing work to promote open science practices in developmental psychology, with the goal of making it easier to help researchers build on one another's work.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

In his short story, The Girl Next Door, essayist and comedian, David Sedaris writes, “In the coming days, I ran the conversation over and over in my mind, thinking of all the fierce and sensible things I should have said.” To some extent, each of us are trapped in our own mind's echo chamber like David Sedaris describes and if kept unchecked, listening to the unfiltered stream of thoughts can feel like we're losing control. The neuroscience of self-talk can provide valuable insights to shift our perspective to step outside our heads and step into the world and manage life.On this episode, the world's leading expert on controlling the conscious mind, award-winning professor at the University of Michigan and the Ross School of Business, and the director of the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory, Ethan Kross, PhD, discusses what exactly is mental chatter and how we can reshape the voice inside of us to gain a sense of control over our mind and our life.About Ethan Kross, PhDEthan Kross, PhD, is one of the world's leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. An award-winning professor at the University of Michigan and the Ross School of Business, he is the director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory. He has participated in policy discussion at the White House and has been interviewed on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR's Morning Edition. His pioneering research has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science. He completed his BA at the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD at Columbia University.Book: Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters and How to Harness ItHelpful Articles:Man's Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl)https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-stop-the-negative-chatter-in-your-head-11609876801About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

“You stupid idiot!” Most of us in the civilized world would refrain from using such hurtful and aggressive language when addressing others. However, if someone were to be a fly on our mind's wall and hear the things we say to ourselves, they might be horrified. When individuals face challenges, encounter failures, and make fools of themselves, the harsh and judgmental critic within gets cracking with self-flagellation. However, a learned alternative is to extend self-compassion, which is less about judging yourself positively - when undeserving and more about relating to yourself kindly. On this episode, one the world's leading experts on self-compassion, author, and Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Kristin Neff,  discusses what self-compassion is, the wide-ranging benefits of engaging in self-compassion, and how self-compassion motivates individuals to improve personal weaknesses while diminishing our tendency to engage in social comparisons. Executive Function skills, when mastered, help create a playbook for personal success and that playbook is incomplete without the teachings from the science of being nice to one's self. About Kristin Neff, PhDKristin Neff is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion nearly twenty years ago. In addition to writing numerous academic articles and book chapters on the topic, she is author of the book Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. In conjunction with her colleague Dr. Chris Germer, she has developed an empirically supported training program called Mindful Self-Compassion, which is taught by thousands of teachers worldwide. They co-authored the Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program: A Guide for Professionals. Her newest work focuses on how to balance self-acceptance with the courage to make needed change. In June 2021, she will publish Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive.For more information on self-compassion, including a self-compassion test, research articles, and practices, go to www.self-compassion.org.Books:Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to YourselfMindful Self-Compassion WorkbookTeaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program: A Guide for ProfessionalsFierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power and ThriveAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)

Kofi Annan once said, "Education is a human right with an immense power to transform. On its foundation rests the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development." The question is, how do we help developing minds gain the knowledge of the self-evident or the invisible structural oppression that creates and sustains inequity so that their learning experiences foster a sense of agency over one's own condition to ultimately commit to taking action against oppressive forces? On this episode, author, developmental psychologist, and  associate professor of education at Simmons University, Dr. Daren Graves, talks about the concept of critical consciousness first conceived by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire that acknowledges that inequality is sustained when the people most affected by it are unable to decode their social conditions that help sustain it. Dr. Graves explores the question of what role teachers and educators play in cultivating critical consciousness in students so that they undergo a metamorphosis to become highly-engaged citizens whose work elevates the human condition. The key implication is that raised critical consciousness is a mark of strong Executive Function skills in those who understand and have natured their own individual capacities by transforming their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs to take actions that makes them the  conduits for social change.About Dr. Daren GravesDr. Daren Graves is an Associate Professor of Education and Social Work at Simmons University and Adjunct Lecturer of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research lies at the intersection of critical race theory, racial identity development, and teacher education. Dr. Graves has reported on his work in a variety of publications including Schooling for Critical Consciousness: Engaging Black and Latinx Youth in Analyzing, Navigating, and Challenging Racial Injustice (Harvard Education Press, 2020). He also co-teaches Critical Race Theory in Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Graves serves as co-Chair of the AERA Hip Hop Theories, Praxis & Pedagogies Special Interest Group.Website: https://www.darengraves.com/Books:- Schooling for Critical Consciousness- Pedagogy of the Oppressed  by Paolo Freire- Cultivating Genius by Gholdy Muhammad - Below The Surface by Rivas-Drake and Umana-TaylorAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)