I found an interesting article that studied the correlation between executive function and giftedness. According to this article:
A 2006 article from the National Institutes of Mental Health (subsidiary of National Institutes of Health) tells of one such interesting study. The study's results showed (via MRI) that the brain development of children with high IQ's (defined in the study as 121-145) is significantly different from that of their above average (109-120) and average (83-108) peers. For example, the cortex layer in the brains of the children with superior IQ's started out much thinner at age 7 (compared to the cortex thickness of the average and above average kids) and reached peak thickness much later (age 12 in gifted kids compared to about age 8 or 9 for average and above average children). After reaching peak thickness, the maturation process (i.e. thinning & pruning) of the cortex takes place at a more rapid pace in children with the highest IQ's. What implications does this have for us as parents and teachers of these kids? Well, given that the pre-frontal cortex controls organization, this might help explain why some of our brainy middle-schoolers can do algebra but can't find the homework they know they did the night before! Also, the study's researchers suggest that it might also indicate an extended window of opportunity for "development of high-level cognitive circuits."
What Brain Imaging Shows Us About Gifted Learners - Unwrapping the Gifted - Education Week TeacherI wish they would have covered HG+ kids in the study. One can only imagine that if there is considerable difference between average kids and superior kids in executive function development, then the gap between average kids and HG+ kids would be even more striking. Of course, when I show anything like this to DS10's teachers, their eyes glaze over. But at least it explains a few things to the parents who are dealing with this on a daily basis.
