EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: A MAJOR LEVER FOR THE HEALTHY AND BALANCED DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
The early childhood is considered as one of the decisive stages in a child´s life. It´s viewed as the first building block that shapes the child´s personality in all its aspects, as this is when the child begins to deal with his external surrounding. Moreover, during this period the child's awareness grows towards autonomy. He starts to rely on himself in his actions and movement confidently. What the child experiences in his first years, shapes all his upcoming learnings. For instance, during the preschool, the child starts acquiring new principles and grasps some abstract concepts like solidarity, participation, socialization ... The institution also works on promoting all the skills which are related to artistic creativity, recreational and educational activities. And since the intervention at this stage has a great impact on the child´s scholastic success, Its consequences positively affect the child´s health and behavior, as well as his cognitive and mental development. Thus, the recent studies have shed light on the child's cognitive development in early stages. And focused mainly on understanding and identifying the factors affecting this development. A reference should be made that the child's cognitive development is crucially related scholastic success. That´s to say, by promoting the executive functions (inhibition - cognitive flexibility - memory - planning and organizing...) at the very early childhood stage is regarded as the cornerstone for building a child´s cognitive skills and acquiring social behavior. This research study aims to explore the children´s executive functions state at their early childhood stage (preschool children) in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses which needs intervention. The study was implemented by using the CHILDHOOD EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING INVENTORY (CHEXI) FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS. The study participant were 150 children, divided among 10 educators in the second preparatory level at 4 different schools. The latter are part of (The Moroccan Foundation for the Promotion of preSchool education) in the Rabat region. It was concluded that the executive functions of preschool children still need further reinforcement and development by setting up an intervention program.
Keywords: Executive Functions, Early Childhood, Preschool Children, Development.