Empowering parents to foster children's early executive function development, in two different contexts

Speaker: Dr Alexandra Hendry

Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.

Abstract:

In this talk Dr. Hendry will introduce two co-developed and evidence-informed approaches to empowering parents to foster their children’s goal-directed behavioural and cognitive control skills (known as executive functions): The Playful Packs project addresses barriers to engagement in parent-child activities, amongst UK families from less-advantaged backgrounds (https://www.playfulpacks.uk). The Supporting Toddlers with a connection to autism or ADHD to develop strong Attention, Regulation and Thinking skills (START; www.startproject.info) is a neurodiversity-affirming programme which aims to support executive function development through: increasing opportunities for toddlers to practise executive function skills in enjoyable ways that can be embedded into day-to-day life; recognising how parents already support their child’s development, and empowering them via peer-support to develop their knowledge and confidence further; and promoting accommodations and adaptations to meet children’s individual needs so that they are best able to use their executive function skills.

The talk will be followed by a short Q&A.