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| Strategies for promoting self-regulation in preschoolers
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Self-regulation in young children is the ability to monitor and manage thoughts and behaviours. It helps children focus their attention, control their emotions and manage their behaviour.
Children develop self-regulation skills as they grow, and progress can be affected by social, emotional and cognitive factors as well as a child's personality and their relationships with parents and carers.
Children with well-developed self-regulation skills often find it easier to solve problems and cope with challenges and problems. They may also find it easier to settle into school life, which is why the early childhood setting is such an important environment for establishing good foundations and habits for life.
Kathy A. Bobula has put together a helpful list of self-regulation skills and activities that early childhood providers can use to support children to develop self regulation skills, especially in the lead up to the transition to 'big school':
Move or act in a deliberate and purposeful fashion:
For example, action songs which incorporate movement, moving to a drum beat, using sign language.
Adapt successfully to familiar settings:
Have a daily schedule and use a picture chart to illustrate what happens and when. Provide separate cubbies for children with their name and picture, provide labels to demonstrate where items are stored, use positive guidance and tell children what TO DO not what not to do.
Focus and maintain attention:
Activities such as story time, group singing, finger plays, play dough, painting, water table and sand pit play are usually an effective way to focus attention.
Ignore distractions:
During mealtimes when there is often a lot of movement and talking as children eat their food together and in enclosed areas where there are many different activities going on at the same time.
Follow requests:
For example, when transitioning between actitivities, children should follow the requests of the educator to finish playing, clean up and move to the next activity. Educators can use re-direction as a guidance technique, for example 'please use indoor voices'.
Attempt to regulate others:
Children help other children learn the rules of the setting and adhere to those roles. This works especially well in mixed age settings, where older children can help younger children behave appropriately, play with certain equipment or share.
Create "rules" for a game or play sequence
For example, dramatic play where children are coming up with ideas for what to play and who does what. Supports may include: dramatic play area; "big blocks" for making larger structures they can play inside of; prop boxes for supporting dramatic play (camping kit; store kit, etc.).
Inhibit an inappropriate response
Have classroom rules about not hurting others; learn and sing complex movement songs such as Bingo, where children have to suppress saying the name of the letter and clapping instead; taking care of classroom materials, such as putting the paint brush with the red paint on it back in the can with the red paint, instead of in one of the other colours.
Alternately shift your attention and refocus it
For example conduct fire drills; use of a signal, like flashing classroom lights, or clapping a rhythm, to get the whole group's attention and play games where you have to pay attention to your card and the picture that is being held up.
Inhibit movement or speech when appropriate
Especially during rest time or when there is a group time or quiet indoor play, games like what's the time Mr Wolf are also helpful for this.
Regulation of emotions in appropriate social interaction
Activities could include playing games where children have to take turns and wait, reading stories about feelings and talking about them.
Regulation of attention
For example, play with materials that require you to attend to several elements simultaneously (height, balance, shape, colour, orientation, weight, etc.), such as: wooden blocks, wooden puzzles, sand, water table, construction materials such as Lego, and manipulative materials such as shape sorters, puzzles, matching games and parquetry blocks for making patterns.
Use of strategies in the carrying out of cognitive tasks
For example, educators ask questions of children when they run into problems in an activity ("What else could you use to be the sail on the ship?"); read a story and ask the children questions about it while reading ("Why do you think the little bunny is saying good night to everything in his room?"); educators can think out loud when solving problems, to model problem solving.
Ability to communicate needs, wants, and thoughts in language
Educators stop and get down to a child's level to listen to them and encourage children to use words in in group time.
Educators can try and model constructive communication and support children's efforts to communicate their needs, wants, and thoughts in language through allowing enough time and attention.
Ability to sustain attention
For example during story time and at mealtime and through playing games or doing craft activities which take a bit of time.
Ability to be curious and enthusiastic when new activities
Educators can model curiosity and enthusiasm about new activities; new materials (such as found objects, like long, thick cardboard tubes from rolls of fabric) as "provocations" or stimulation for new ideas.
Can inhibit impulsivity and follow directions
Children should know the rules and be able to stick to them. Educators can scaffold this knowledge by role modelling, for example always wearing a hat outside.
Can take turns in speech and/or behaviour
For example taking turns in a group time activity; having materials that must be shared, like play dough tools; having fewer tricycles than there are children in a group.
Shows sensitivity to others' feelings, particularly other children
When children have a disagreement an educator should intervene and asks about how each child feels or how they think the other person might be feeling; stories and discussions that address feelings can also help.
Retain information when trying to solve a problem
Good ways to promote this include wooden picture puzzles; multi-media art projects; cooking projects and having children assist in more complicated activities such as preparing snacks.
Able to inhibit impulses when formulating and carrying out an activity
Activities which promote this are Lego blocks (lock them together carefully); unit blocks (stack them so the building is sturdy); building with clay (squeeze just enough, but not too much to make a bird's egg), regulating the amount of paint in an easel brush (dip brush in cup of paint and push on side of can to remove excess paint).
For loads more information on self-regulation visit Kathy's website.
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