Jun 7, 2026 · 52 min · 12 segments
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Sarah OberleGuest
Mitch WeathersGuestZach GroshellHostNow, I'm very excited to talk about this book beyond the literary masterpiece that is the foreword.
So executive functioning, it's often described as like a set of skills, right? But your book takes quite a scientific view on this.
From a cognitive science perspective, What is executive functioning and why does it matter? Particularly the distinction between skills and I suppose innate abilities and things like that.
So executive functions are a set of interrelated cognitive processes, and they are in charge of anything that requires self-control.
And so what's important about understanding that is that When we know that they're not actually behaviors, they're not actually skills, those things are a proxy for our executive functions.
Zach, first of all, the plug, you should have plugged your forward at the beginning because it is really well done, I will have to say.
But you bring up, this is a good question because you hear these phrases used interchangeably, executive functions, executive functioning, and then you hear executive functioning skills.
And one way to think of it, Sarah and I like to say that these skills or behaviors that manifest from these cognitive processes, another way to think of it is they're brought to you by the cognitive process.
But in the classroom, for folks that are practitioners, they're working with kids, we are trying to spot those behaviors.
What's it look like for a student to manage themselves? What's it look like for a student to know how to get and stay organized? What's it look like? So
We look at these behaviors or skills, which give us something, again, tangible to spot and be aware of age-appropriate and grade-level expectations around the development of these executive functions, because there's a whole biology component to it as they emerge as we're getting older, but The skills are brought to you by the cognitive processes is how I like to say it.
Now, I'm very excited to talk about this book beyond the literary masterpiece that is the foreword.
So executive functioning, it's often described as like a set of skills, right? But your book takes quite a scientific view on this.
From a cognitive science perspective, What is executive functioning and why does it matter? Particularly the distinction between skills and I suppose innate abilities and things like that.
So executive functions are a set of interrelated cognitive processes, and they are in charge of anything that requires self-control.
And so what's important about understanding that is that When we know that they're not actually behaviors, they're not actually skills, those things are a proxy for our executive functions.
Zach, first of all, the plug, you should have plugged your forward at the beginning because it is really well done, I will have to say.
But you bring up, this is a good question because you hear these phrases used interchangeably, executive functions, executive functioning, and then you hear executive functioning skills.
And one way to think of it, Sarah and I like to say that these skills or behaviors that manifest from these cognitive processes, another way to think of it is they're brought to you by the cognitive process.
But in the classroom, for folks that are practitioners, they're working with kids, we are trying to spot those behaviors.
What's it look like for a student to manage themselves? What's it look like for a student to know how to get and stay organized? What's it look like? So
We look at these behaviors or skills, which give us something, again, tangible to spot and be aware of age-appropriate and grade-level expectations around the development of these executive functions, because there's a whole biology component to it as they emerge as we're getting older, but The skills are brought to you by the cognitive processes is how I like to say it.
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Sarah compares brains development to kids' height
Students Lost Inside Minds
Sarah sees alarming attention gaps in classroom
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