Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore the bidirectional pathways between executive functions (EFs) and early academic skills (preliteracy and early numeracy) in high-ability preschool children across two waves of measurement, the fall (Time 1) and the end of the kindergarten year (Time 2). Participants were twenty Greek-speaking preschool children with high abilities aged between 5 and 6 years at Time 1 (M = 62.50 months, SD = 2.65). At each time point, children were directly assessed on measures of EFs, measures of phonological awareness (PA), and early numeracy (EN) skills. Confirmatory factors analyses supported a one-factor EFs and PA models at each time. Cross-lagged panel models revealed strong bidirectional relations between EFs and PA, as well as between EFs and EN. Our findings point to the importance of developing high-quality enrichment programs that integrate EFs training with embedded preliteracy and EN tasks to compensate for high-ability children’s relative weaknesses while creating challenging school environments.