Meet David Spoey

Self-regulation abilities, beyond intelligence, play major role in early achievement Self-Control is more important than smarts.
The researchers found that all aspects of children's self-regulation are uniquely related to their academic abilities, over and above their intelligence. They also found that one particular aspect of self-regulation-termed the inhibitory control aspect of brain function used in planning, problem solving, and goal-directed activity-is predictive of all academic outcomes but was particularly associated with early ability in math.