Kids Who Have Trouble Behaving in Preschool Fall Behind in School

Guest: Janelle Montroy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Children’s Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston If you had to choose between having your preschooler graduate to kindergarten with either the ability to say their ABCs and count to 20, OR the ability to pay attention and follow directions, which would you choose? Since pre-school is typically geared toward helping children succeed academically, the ABCS and 123s get a lot of focus. But an increasing body of research finds that a child’s ability to focus, sit still and minimize disruptive behaviors in pre-school is a good predictor of how well that child will do academically throughout school.