This document discusses the importance of play for developing self-regulation, creativity, and problem-solving skills in children. It argues that the core executive functions of inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility can be strengthened through play. Play not only directly trains these skills but also reduces stress and fosters social and emotional well-being, which supports executive function development. Specific examples of activities like storytelling, games, and pretend play are provided that challenge executive functions in developmentally appropriate ways.

1. To Improve Self-Regulation,
Creativity and Problem-Solving:
Let Children Play!
Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC
Canada Research Chair Professor of
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Dept. of Psychiatry, UBC

2. I fear that activities needed
for children to thrive are
being cut from school curri-
cula and from children’s lives.

3. Some of the most important
skills
both for HAPPINESS
and for SUCCESS
in school and in life are
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

4. Almost all of those
can be
learned, practiced, and
improved
through PLAY

5. While training and challenging EFs
is needed for them to improve
that alone is probably not enough
to achieve the best results.

6. I predict that the activities that will
most successfully improve
Executive Functions,
the VERY BEST activities for
improving Executive Functions

7. will not only work on directly
improving Executive Functions by
training and challenging them, but

8. will indirectly support executive
functions by lessening things that
impair executive functions
(like stress or loneliness) and
enhancing things that support them
(like joy or physical vitality).

9. PLAY does exactly that.
Besides directly
training & challenging
executive functions,
PLAY also nourishes us
socially, emotionally, and
physically.

10. What’s
the evidence?

11. 1. Inhibitory
Control
2. Working
Memory
3. Cognitive
Flexibility
The
3 core
Executive
Functions

12. Inhibitory
Control
involves resisting a
strong inclination to do
one thing,
and instead do what
is most appropriate
or needed.

13. Inhibitory
Control
includes:
Focused Attention
and
Self-Control

14. Focused
Attention
Inhibitory control
at the level of
attention:
Self-Control
Inhibitory control
at the level
of behavior:

15. FOCUSED ATTENTION
• Screening out distractions

16. FOCUSED
ATTENTION
Being able to
concentrate
and
• stay focused

17. An activity for 1 to 20
persons of ANY and ALL
ages (3 or older):
Everyone (even the
grown-ups) gets a bell and
walks in a line or a circle.
The goal is for no
one’s bell to make a
sound.

22. FOCUSED ATTENTION

23. FOCUSED ATTENTION
Example: Singing a song as a Round

24. We tend to underestimate how
capable young children really are.
Next you’ll see 3-year-old
displaying truly outstanding
perseverance & focused attention
(despite lots of distraction all around
him)

25. Focused
Attention
There’s Inhibitory
control at the level of
attention:
Inhibitory control
at the level
of behavior:
Self-Control

26. SELF-CONTROL
resisting temptations,
not acting impulsively,
thinking before you speak or act

27. Examples of when you need
SELF-CONTROL
• wait your turn, raise your hand, don’t grab another
child’s toy, don’t pee in your pants

28. Examples of when you need
SELF-CONTROL
• wait your turn, raise your hand, don’t grab another
child’s toy, don’t pee in your pants
• resist hurting someone just because that person
hurt you (cycle of ‘tit for tat’)
• don’t blurt out the 1st thing that comes to mind
• resist acting in the heat of the moment (don’t
press ‘send’ right away)
• resist jumping to a conclusion of what something
must have meant or why it was done

29. Discipline & Perseverance
resisting the many temptations to quit and not
finish what you started
to keep working at it despite
boredom,
initial failure, setbacks, difficulties, or
more fun things calling
continuing to work though the reward may be a
long time in coming (delaying gratification)
requires Self-Control

30. Evidence shows that discipline
accounts for over twice as much
variation in final grades as
does IQ, even in college.
(Duckworth & Seligman, 2005)

31. Self-control saves us from putting our foot in our
mouth or making a social faux pas.
Think of all the trouble you would get in if you
..blurted out the first thing that came to mind,
..grabbed whatever you wanted without asking or
paying, or
..did other socially inappropriate or hurtful things.
If we want to change,
if we want to mend our ways,
we need self-control.

32. There are many ways we can
help children succeed despite
having weak
inhibitory control:

33. Young children are often capable of
responding correctly -- if some way
can be found to cause them to delay
responding for just a few moments.

34. THE DAY-NIGHT TASK
“Day” “Night”
Semantically conflicting labels
(Gerstadt , Hong, & Diamond, 1994)
Requires holding 2 rules in mind, and inhibiting
saying what the images really represent, saying the
opposite instead.

35. Experimenter sings a little ditty
 think about the answer, don’t tell me 
before the child responds.
Imposes time between presentation of
stimulus and when a child can respond
DITTY

36. 89%
56%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Song Standard
Percentage of Correct Responses by 4-Year-Old
Children on the Song and Standard Conditions of
the Day-Night Task
PercentCorrect
Chance
~ 90%

37. VIDEO
VIDEO

38. In the PATHS program, children are taught that when
they get upset they should stop and hold themselves
tightly with arms crossed (like a Turtle gets into its shell)
and take a deep breath.
This is brilliant. It imposes a short waiting period AND
during that period it has children do things that reduce
arousal & help them to calm down.

39. 1. Inhibitory
Control
2. Working
Memory
The
3 core
Executive
Functions

40. Working
Memory
Holding
information in
mind
to work or
play with it

41. Working Memory is absolutely critical
for REASONING and for
CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
for those require holding ideas and
information in mind and playing with
them, relating one to another, re-
ordering priorities, and more

42. Working memory is critical for
making sense of anything that
unfolds over time, for that always
requires holding in mind what
happened earlier and relating that to
what is happening now.

43. Challenge children’s Working Memory so it
improves (e.g., w/ Storytelling)
EFs need to be continually challenged to
see improvements - not just used, but
challenged.

44. I’m a huge fan of Storytelling

47. Storytelling requires and invites a child’s
rapt attention for extended periods
(sustained, focused attention), and working
memory to hold in mind all that’s happened
so far, different characters’ identities,
story details and to
relate that to the new
info being revealed –
without visual aids !

48. A researcher (Gallets, 2005) randomly
assigned children in Kindergarten & Grade 1
to storytelling or story-reading -- 2x a week
for 12 weeks.
Vocabulary and recall improved more in the
children assigned to STORYTELLING than in
children assigned to story-reading.

49. Vocabulary assessed at
age 3 strongly predicts
reading comprehension
at 9-10 years of age

50. The more interaction between an adult
reading or telling a story and the child, the
more vocabulary improves.
The conversation that takes place in the
context of reading seems to have even more
benefit than the reading itself.

51. REFERENCES for:
The conversation that takes place in the
context of reading seems to have more benefit
than the reading itself.
Walsh, B.A., & Blewitt, P. (2006). The effect of questioning
style during storybook reading on novel vocabulary acquisition
of preschoolers. Early Childhood Education J., 33, 273-278.
Sénéchal, M., Thomas, E., & Monker, J. (1995). Individual
differences in 4-year-old children's acquisition of vocabulary
during storybook reading. J. of Ed. Psychology, 87, 218-229.
Kertoy, M.K. (1994). Adult interactive strategies and the
spontaneous comments of preschoolers during joint storybook
readings. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 9, 58-
67.

52. Maybe one reason is that when
you are reading to, or with, a child
you are looking down at the page
at least part of the time.
But when you are
telling a story you
are looking directly
at the children &
interacting more.

53. While Story-reading is
wonderful
I predict that
Storytelling
should improve
attention and working memory more
because it taxes them more

56. A fun game for practicing
and improving
Working Memory

57. When you see
a circle, do this: (Hold your hands up)

58. What should you do when you see this?

59. When you see a
square, do this:
(Hold your arms out
with your palms up)

60. What should you do when you see this?

61. What should you do when you see this?

62. When you see a
triangle, do this:
(Put your hand to
your chest in a fist.)

63. What should you do when you see this?

64. and this?

65. and this?

66. and this?

67. GREAT! Now you are ready to
play for real.
Make the movement that goes with
shape the arrow is pointing to.

74. You can add demands on
Inhibitory Control and Cognitive
Flexibility by:

75. Changing the
mappings,
for example:

76. When you see a circle:
clap your hands once

78. When you see a
square, do this:
(Put one hand in front of
you, with the palm facing
up; make a fist with your
other hand and place it
on the palm with the
pinky down and thumb
on top.)

81. When you see a
triangle, do this: (Salute)

86. Now you’re ready to play for real.
Make the movement that goes with
shape the arrow is pointing to.

93. An example of how to
to help children with fragile
Working Memory:

94. Buddy Reading

95. Buddy Reading
a scaffold

96. Buddy Reading
Teacher explains, “Ears don’t
talk; ears listen”

97. Buddy Reading
Teacher explains, “Ears don’t
talk; ears listen”

98. Non-verbal signs and
symbols aid comprehension
and memory.

99. Cognitive
Flexibility
involves being
able to
..see an issue from
different perspectives
..think about something in
a whole new way
(“thinking outside the
box”)
..seamlessly adjust to
change or unexpected
situations

100. Cognitive Flexibility also includes having
the FLEXIBILITY…
• …to take advantage of a sudden
opportunity (serendipity)
• …to change course when needs change
• …to get to your desired goal despite
unexpected obstacles seeming to block
the way
• …to admit you were wrong when you get o
more information

101. When one door closes, another door
opens;
but we often look so long and so
regretfully upon the closed door,
that we do not see the ones which
open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell
An example of poor
cognitive flexibility:

103. If there’s a problem that we haven’t
been able to solve, can you ‘think
outside the box’ to…
…conceive of the problem, frame the problem,
in a new way?
… come up with a completely different way of
attacking it?

104. If you always do
what you always did,
you’ll always get
what you always got.
- Einstein

105. For example,
What unusual uses can you
think of for a TABLE?
Can you creatively see the same
thing from different perspectives?

106. You could hide under it.
Turned it on its side to keep a
door closed.
Turn it upside down to play
horseshoes.
Use it as a percussion
instrument.
Cut it up for firewood.

107. The 3 core Executive Functions are:
• Inhibitory Control
• Working Memory
• Cognitive Flexibility
Higher-order Executive Functions are:
• Problem-solving
• Reasoning
• Planning
= Fluid Intelligence

108. Vygotsky: Engaging in social pretend play is critical for
developing executive function skills in very young children. It
is emphasized in Tools of the Mind.
Children must plan who they want to be in a pretend
scenario, and the teacher holds them accountable for

109. • flexibly adjust to twists and turns
in the evolving plot (cognitive
flexibility)
-- all three of the core executive
functions thus get exercise.
• During social pretend play, children must hold their
own role and those of others in mind (working
memory)
• inhibit acting out of character (employ inhibitory
control), and

110. The Importance of
…Action for Learning
…Learn through Doing
at any age, but especially for
young children

111. Hands-on Learning
We evolved to be able to learn to help us act,
to help us do what we needed to do.
If information is not relevant for action, we
don’t pay attention in the same way (hence
the difference in route memory for the driver,
versus the passenger, of a car).
You learn something when you NEED it for
something you want to DO – when you need
it for a problem you want to solve.

112. (My son teaching me to program
the VCR)
The same is true when we teach
children in school. They need
opportunities to concretely apply
what they are taught.

113. “The act teaches us the
meaning of the act.”
- Abraham Heschel

114. Young children’s learning needs to be active
and hands on.
Many concepts can, and should, be introduced
visually and tactilely before they are
introduced using language.
It helps a great deal to give children
experiences with concepts first before
attaching verbal labels to them.

115. For example, by playing with the pegboards you see
below, children learn about the concepts of height &
diameter without those words ever being used.
By the time those words are introduced, children have
a deep understanding of the concepts.
same height
differ only in heightdiffer only in diameter
same diameter

117. El Sistema (Venezuela’s national system of
Youth and Children's Orchestras) was started
by José Antonio Abreu in 1975.
He envisioned classical music training as a
social intervention that could transform the
lives of poor kids. El Sistema is intended as a
social
intervention with
music at its core.
Rather than aiming
to produce great
musicians, it aims to
create community.

118. Provided free. It takes all children (even deaf).
Has reached over half a million children in 25
countries & 3 continents.

119. The National Dance Institute (NDI) was founded by
Jacques d'Amboise in 1976 to transform the lives of
troubled youth through dance.
Jacques was the best male ballet
dancer in the world for 3 decades &
received the National Medal of
Honor. He was a high school dropout,
a poor kid from a poor neighbor-
hood, headed for trouble.
Since dance transformed
his life, he figured it might do
the same for others.

120. Provided free. It takes all children (even those in
wheelchairs). Has reached over half a million
children in some of the poorest areas.

121. Youth Circus
Social Circus

122. Almost 200 cities throughout the US have youth
circus programs, as do many in Europe. Youth
circus is “circus created and performed by youth,
as opposed to entertainment devised for youth.”
Since the 1970s, youth circuses have
used circus arts to instill in young
people qualities they need to survive
and thrive in society, teaching them
the art of life through circus, building
character, and inspiring youths,
especially those at-risk.

123. These activities train and challenge cognitive
skills ( ‘executive functions’)

124. Abreu: “The person who knows 3 notes is the teacher to the
person who knows 2 notes.”

125. Child-to-child teaching has been found
repeatedly to produce better (often
dramatically better) outcomes than
teacher-led instruction.
(review by Hall & Stegila, 2003; Miller,
2005)

126. Executive Functions depend
on Prefrontal Cortex and the
other
neural regions with
which it is
interconnected.
Prefrontal
Cortex

127. Prefrontal
cortex is the
newest area
of the brain
and the most
vulnerable.
Prefrontal
Cortex
Frontal Cortex

128. If you’re
• sad or stressed
• lonely or
• not physically fit
Prefrontal Cortex and Executive
Functions are the first to suffer,
and suffer THE MOST.

129. Conversely, we show better Executive
Functions when we’re
• happy
• feel socially supported, &
• we’re healthy & physically fit

130. Amy Arnsten,
1998
The biology of
being frazzled
Science
Our brains work
better when we
are not
in a stressed
emotional state.

131. That is particularly true
for prefrontal cortex
and executive functions.

132. Stress impairs Executive Functions
and can cause anyone
to look as if
he or she has an EF impairment
(like ADHD)
when that’s not the case.

133. You may have noticed that
when you’re stressed
you can’t think as clearly
or exercise as good self-control.

134. Stress and Prefrontal Cortex
(Roth et al., 1988)
Even mild stress increases DA release in
PFC - but not elsewhere in the brain

135. Sánchez MM, Young LJ, Plotsky PM, Insel TR
(2000)
Distribution of Corticosteroid Receptors
in the Rhesus Brain.
J Neurosci, 20, 4657-4568
In humans (& primates in general)
Prefrontal Cortex has
more receptors for CORTISOL than
any other area in the brain.

136. A few weeks of stress in preparation for a
major exam disrupts communication
between PFC and other brain regions.
(including parietal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex,
the insula, and the cerebellum)
Liston et al. (2009) PNAS

137. Desseilles et al., 2009
von Hecker & Meiser, 2005
When we are sad we have
worse selective attention.
When we are happy we have
better selective attention.
Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2008

138. THE most heavily researched predictor of
creativity in social psychology is mood.
The most robust finding is that a happy mood leads
to greater creativity (Ashby et al. 1999).
It enables people to work more flexibly (Murray et al.
1990) & to see potential relatedness among unusual
& atypical members of categories (Isen et al. 1985,
1987).
People show more creativity
when they are happy

139. It’s not that sadder people are
less creative than happier
ones, but that an individual
tends to be more creative when
he or she is happier
than when he or she is more
miserable.

140. It’s important that children
do things
that give them
JOY

141. These activities
engage children’s Passionate
Enthusiasm (‘Ruach’)
You can see the JOY
on their faces

142. JOY
is NOT the opposite of
SERIOUS

143. Serious business
(like learning) can, and
should, be JOYFUL

144. Research shows
we learn more and get more
done, when we’re happy.

145. There’s no reason why learning
can’t be joyful.
When it is, there’s no clear
distinction between ‘work’ and
‘play.’

151. Children need
to believe in
themselves.

152. These programs provide joy, building
feelings of pride & self-confidence

153. We need to let children know
it’s okay to make mistakes.
The only alternative to is to
stay with what you already
know, to stop growing.

154. Children need to feel safe
…to push the limits of what they know,
…to venture into the unknown,
…to take the risk of making a mistake or of
being wrong.
Children can’t relax if they’re worried you
might embarass them.
They can’t relax if they feel a lot of pressure
to always succeed
and never mess up.

155. Making a mistake is not the worst
thing in the world.
Even the people
you most respect
make mistakes and
have done things they regret.
EVERYONE makes mistakes.
Everyone is imperfect.

156. Imperfect ≠ Worthless

157. “Going wrong is just
something you do on the
way to going right.”
-- Marshall Marcus

158. Making a mistake
is NOT a problem.

159. Suffering embarrassment
because you made a
mistake
is a problem.

160. The important thing
is how you react
after you’ve made a mistake
or fallen short of a goal.

161. You've never failed until you've tried for the
last time, and you've never lost until you quit.
-- Samuel Proctor Massie
It’s never over ‘til
it’s over

162. You haven’t failed ‘til
you’ve stopped trying.
Samuel Proctor Massie was born in the
segregated South in the early 1900’s. You
know he encountered a lot of discrimination,
setbacks, and failures. Yet he rose to become
one the most highly respected and decorated
chemists of the 20th century.

163. Loneliness:
Human Nature and
the Need for Social
Connection
2008
a book by
John Cacioppo
& William Patrick
Our brains work
better when
we are not
feeling lonely
or socially
isolated.

164. That is particularly true
for prefrontal cortex
and executive functions.

165. People who feel lonely, or are
focusing on anticipating being alone,
show worse EFs than people who
feel, or anticipate feeling, more
socially supported.
Baumeister et al., 2002
Tangney et al. , 2004
Twenge et al., 2002

166. We are fundamentally social.
We need to belong.
We need to fit in & be liked.
Children who are lonely or
ostracized have more
difficulty learning.

167. These activities address social needs, provid-ing
feelings of belonging and social support

168. We are not just intellects,
with emotions
and social needs,
we also have bodies

169. Our brains
work better
when our
bodies are
physically fit.
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
(January 2008)
“Be Smart, Exercise Your Heart:
Exercise Effects on Brain
and Cognition”
Charles Hillman, Kirk Erickson
& Art Kramer
“There is little doubt that
leading a sedentary life
is bad for our cognitive
health.”

170. That is particularly true
for prefrontal cortex
and executive functions.

171. People who are more physically
active and have better aerobic fitness
have better EFs.
That’s true for kids: Scudder et al., 2014
Hillman, Castelli, & Buck 2005
and for older adults: Boucard et al., 2012
Voelcker-Rehage, Godde, & Staudinger, 2010

172. The brain doesn’t recognize the same
sharp division between cognitive and
motor function that we impose in our
thinking.
The SAME or substantially
overlapping brain systems subserve
BOTH cognitive and motor function.

173. For example, an area of the brain
called the pre-SMA
is important for sequential tasks,
whether they are
sequential motor tasks or
sequential cognitive tasks.
Hanakawa et al., 2002

174. Motor development and
cognitive development appear to
be fundamentally intertwined.
Diamond, A. (2000)
Close Interrelation of
Motor Development and Cognitive
Development and of the Cerebellum and
Prefrontal Cortex
Child Development, 71, 44-56

175. These activities Improve
Motor Skills &
Physical Fitness
Orchestra trains visuomotor skills, bimanual
coordination, & fine motor skills.
Dance improves aerobic fitness, muscle
strength & flexibility, coordination, balance, &
helps you move with increased grace &
reduced awkwardness.

176. Certainly they help
develop motor skills such
as bimanual and eye-
hand coordination,

177. lung
capacity

178. strength &
flexibility

179. Contrary to influential reviews
of the benefits of aerobic exercise….
Nature Reviews Neuroscience (January 2008)
“Be Smart, Exercise Your Heart:
Exercise Effects on Brain and Cognition”
Charles Hillman, Kirk Erickson & Art Kramer
In particular, the frontal lobe & executive functions
that depend on it show the largest benefit
from improved fitness.

180. Exercise without a cognitive
component and perhaps without
a social component (e.g.,
riding a stationary bike) produces
little or no cognitive benefit.

181. Exercise alone appears not to be as
effective in improving EFs as
exercise-plus-character-develop-ment
(traditional martial arts)
exercise-plus-mindfulness (yoga)
or other exercise that requires thought
(such as soccer or circus).

182. Lakes & Hoyt (2004) randomly
assigned children in grades K thru
5 (roughly 5-11 years old) by
homeroom class to Tae-Kwon-Do
martial arts or standard physical
education.

183. Children assigned to Tae-Kwon-Do showed
greater gains than children in standard phys.
ed. on all dimensions of EFs studied (e.g.,
cognitive [focused vs. distractible] and
affective [persevere vs. quit] and emotion
regulation). This generalized to multiple
contexts and was found on multiple
measures.

184. There’s also evidence that any benefit of
physical activity for cognition may be
proportional to how much joy the physical
activity brings.
(Hill et al., 2010; Raichlen, Foster, Gerdeman,
Seillier, & Giuffrida, 2012; Heyman et al., 2012; Wolf
et al., 2010)
Boring exercise is particularly unlikely to yield
cognitive benefits.

185. The different parts of the human
being are fundamentally
interrelated.
Each part (cognitive, spiritual,
social, emotional, & physical)
is affected by, and affects,
the others.
Diamond, 2007

186. The best and most
efficient way to foster
any one of those,
is to foster all of them.

187. We have to care about children’s
emotional
social &
physical well-being,
if we want them to be able to problem-solve,
exercise self-control, or display any of the
other Executive Functions.

188. If a child is stressed,
sad,
lonely,
or not physically fit,
the very academic performance a school
is trying to improve will take a hit.

189. Returning to my prediction:
Activities will
most successfully
improve Executive Functions

190. will not only work on directly
improving Executive Functions by
training and challenging them, but

191. will indirectly support executive functions
by lessening things that
impair them (like stress or loneliness)
and enhancing things that support them
(like joy or physical vitality).

192. What activities directly
train and challenge
executive functions and
indirectly support them by also
addressing our social,
emotional, and physical
needs?

193. Traditional
Activities
that have been around
for millennia.

194. For 10's of 1,000's of years, across all
cultures, storytelling, dance, art, music &
play have been part of the human
condition.
People in all cultures made music,
sang, danced, did sports, and played
games. There are good reasons why those
activities have lasted so long and arose
everywhere.

195. These activities
…challenge our intellect (EFs),
…make us happy & proud,
…address our social needs, and
…help our bodies develop

196. Key is that the child really enjoy the
activity and really want to do it,
so s/he will spend a lot of time at it,
pushing him- or herself to improve.

197. could be caring for an animal….

198. Free the Children
Children Changing the World
More than 1.7 million youth involved in
innovative education and develop-ment
programs in 45 countries.
Educates, engages, and empowers
young people to be confident young
change-makers and lifelong active
citizens.
97%
of their students now believe they can
make a difference in the world.
89%
confirm that their students are
more confident in their goal-setting
and completion.
85%
find a greater atmosphere of caring
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90%
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Educators whose students are engaged in Free the Children report:
Could be a SERVICE ACTIVITY such as

200. I fear that activities needed
for children to thrive
(the arts, physical activity, & play)
are being cut from school
curricula and children’s lives.

201. What if mainstream education has it all wrong?

202. Focusing exclusively on training cognition
(as mainstream education tends to do)
may not be the best, or most efficient, way
to improve cognition.
What if mainstream education has it all wrong?

203. Addressing children’s social, emotional, and
physical needs may be key to
whether they do well in school and in life.
Focusing exclusively on training cognition
(as mainstream education tends to do)
may not be the best, or most efficient, way
to improve cognition.
What if mainstream education has it all wrong?

204. While it may seem logical that if you
want to improve academic outcomes
you should concentrate on academic
instruction alone,
not everything that seems logical
is correct.

205. To show the EFs they are capable of, to
achieve the academic outcomes they
are capable of, children need to
• feel relaxed and happy (not stressed)
• feel they are in a supportive community
they can count on, and
• their bodies need to be fit & healthy.

206. If a child is emotionally, socially, and
physically nourished
that child is more likely to show the
full cognitive ability of which he or
she is capable and
do better in school.

207. On the other hand,
if a child is stressed, sad,
lonely, or not physically fit,
the very academic performance a
school is trying to improve will
take a hit.

208. What nourishes the
human spirit may
also be best for
Executive Functions.

209. Nurturing children socially, emotionally,
cognitively, and physically
as the arts, play, and physical activity can do
may be critical for achieving
the outcomes we all want for our children.

210. My thanks to the NIH (NIMH, NICHD, & NIDA),
which has continuously funded our work since 1986,
& to the Spencer Fdn, CFI, NSERC, & IES for recent
support our work - and especially
to all the members of my lab.

211. thank you so much for
your attention
adele.diamond@ubc.ca