Research in the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychology (CAN) Lab broadly focuses on the role of executive functions in development, spanning from the preschool years through early adulthood. Executive functions are self-regulatory abilities that we use in situations that are new, difficult, dangerous, and/or that require a different way of responding. Some of these abilities emerge early in life and are foundational to purposeful behaviour, like paying attention, keeping track of important information, and stopping ourselves from acting impulsively. Other abilities are more complex and take longer to develop, such as learning how to juggle competing demands for our time, plan effectively, and keep ourselves organized. Our studies examine how these abilities develop, why they are important, and what we can do to strengthen and/or support them in order to reduce impairment, and improve function, in day-to-day life.
News
CAN Lab student receives SSHRC award
We are pleased to share that MA student Alexa Nordine has been awarded a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship for doctoral studies (CGS-D). Congratulations Alexa!
Great expectations has come to a close
Thank you to the first-year UW undergraduates who participated in our longitudinal study, 'Great Expectations' (ORE 46624), which looked at different facets of adjustment experienced by students in the first year of university. The study is now closed and we have notified the 8 winners of our gift card draw. Stay tuned for future updates as we begin to share findings from our study!
Teens and goals: New work pubilshed by former student Mahsa Sadeghi in the Canadian Journal of School Psychology
Setting and attaining goals is linked to many positive outcomes for youth, but not all youth are successful in goal pursuit–-particularly in the context of having ADHD. In her doctoral work, Mahsa Sadeghi, conducted interviews with youth who do or do not have ADHD to examine similarities and differences in their goal striving. Both groups were also compared to undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo. Common themes highlighted reasons for, resources toward, and stressors associated with goal pursuit. However, youth with ADHD rated academic goals as less interesting even when successfully attained, applied more effort and allocated more strategies even when goals were of high interest (e.g., hobbies), endorsed using fewer executive functions (e.g., planning, organizing) during goal pursuit, and did not link immediate goals to future ambitions. This qualitative study provides a voice for youth with ADHD regarding their experience of goal-striving and offers a perspective for clinicians, caregivers, and educators to consider when working with adolescents who have this relatively common neurodevelopmental disorder. Mahsa's work was recently published in the Canadian Journal of School Psychology (https://doi.org/10.1177/082957352513246).