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In a story about the way interactive games help children develop executive function, Jessica Lahey, a contributing writer for The Atlantic, discusses the use of games with William Hudenko, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine who uses board games such as Swish and chess to diagnose and strengthen children’s cognitive and executive-function skills.

“Dr. Hudenko was kind enough to share his five favorite executive function-building games with me, and I recruited my children as unwitting lab rats in a bit of field-testing,” writes Lahey.

Swish is among the games Hudenko recommends. “Children with executive-functioning deficits often struggle with the heavy working memory demands of mentally rotating the cards and sequentially identifying additional card matches,” he writes Lahey in an email. “This game is particularly helpful for developing an appropriate balance between impulse control and increasing processing speed as the child is trying to be the first to identify a ‘swish.’ ”

Read the full story, published 7/16/14 by The Atlantic.