As my inaugural post, I want to write about a topic that first caught my attention in September of ’09. It has since then been covered by various mainstream media outlets, and it has also been written about in several books.
“Tools of the Mind (Tools)” was developed in 1993 at Metropolitan State College of Denver. It is a school-based curriculum for children ages 3.5 – 7 (preschool – grade 2). It began as a program focused on improving children’s cognitive development, especially metacognition, one of the executive functioning skills. Metacognition is defined as thinking about how we think. It is an important skill for everyday function and for the successful completion of any task or activity. It comes into play when we reflect on how much progress we’re making toward a goal, how we learn from failure, and how we correct our mistakes. As a child becomes proficient in metacognitive skills and can start monitoring and reflecting on his thoughts and ensuing behaviors, self-control and self-initiated learning starts to emerge.
Russian psychologist Dr. Lev Vygotsky, on whose philosophy the Tools curriculum is based, presents it as follows:
Until children learn to use mental tools, their learning is largely controlled by the environment: they attend only to the things that are the brightest or loudest and they can remember something only if has been repeated many times. AFTER children master mental tools, they can become in charge of their own learning by attending and remembering in an intentional and purposeful way. Similar to how using mental tools transforms children’s cognitive behaviors, they can also transform their physical, social and emotional behaviors. From being “slaves to the environment,” children become “masters of their own behavior.” As children are taught and practice an increasing number of various mental tools, they transform not only their external behaviors, but also their minds, leading to the emergence of higher mental functions.
As Tools grew in popularity, it began including the other executive functioning skills as well.
Before reading any further, you might be thinking, why is the word “executive” being mentioned when speaking about young kids? As neuroscientists put it, executive functioning skills play the same role CEOs play in companies. Those skills are responsible for the successful execution of all mental, physical, and functional operations we engage in.
While I’m reserving the topic of executive functioning skills for another, more extensive post, included in this set of skills are areas of impulse-control, emotional control, and self-regulation, among other similarly important capacities.
The primary method utilized in the Tools teaching model is, surprise, surprise, play. Instead of children listening to lists of rules and lessons about topics the teachers choose, children engage in various cleverly designed play situations, planned and facilitated by specially trained teachers.
For example, all children before starting their playtime must complete a “play plan.” The children draw a picture of themselves, and they list the activities they will be engaging in during playtime. The children then have to stick to their plans or adjust their plans. This exercise intends to help young children learn the concepts of planning ahead and organizing, both high on the list of executive functioning skills. As illustrated by this example, they learn these skills via active, not passive, engagement.
The researchers and scientists involved in studying executive functioning skills unanimously agree that all children diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) have inefficient or undeveloped executive functioning skills. Furthermore, some neuropsychologists are going as far as saying that ADD/ADHD are disorders of executive functioning, and that by early identification of skill deficiency and subsequent skill training fewer children will have these diagnoses.
Enters Tools of the Mind with the ambitious claim that fewer children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD would need Ritalin and other medication to treat these disorders, if they would attend a preschool that implements its curriculum. Additionally, they explain that improving children’s self-control and regulation skills lead to a significantly reduced number of classroom meltdowns and expulsions.
The math makes sense. If ADD/ADHD are primarily deficits of executive functioning skills and those skills can be developed and learned, is this perhaps the future of the treatment of children with ADD/ADHD?
Up next: It all sounds very nice, but what does the research say about this approach?
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