Self- Regulation
The abilities of children to regulate their own emotions, behaviours, and attention increase over time with maturation, experience, and responsive relationships. Supporting self-regulation is a central focus of early development because self-regulation skills lead to physical, emotional, behavioural, and cognitive competence.
Self-Regulation is central to a child's capacity to learn. It is " a cornerstone of development and a central building block of early learning" (Charles Pascal, Every Child, Every Opportunity: Curriculum and Pedagogy for the Early Learning Program, p.4). The ability to self -regulate, or to set limits for oneself, allows a child to develop the emotional wellbeing and the habits of mind, such as persistence and curiosity, that are essential for early learning and that set the stage for life long learning.
Self-regulation involves attention skills, working memory, and cognitive flexibility - qualities that provide the underpinning for essential skills needed through life, such as planning and problem solving skills (ELECT,p.4). Self-regulation allows children to have positive interactions and sets a pattern of behaviour that will benefit them throughout their lives. (ELECT, p.8)
The Marshmallow Test
In the test, a child is told he can have one marshmallow now or several if he waits until the experimenter comes back in 15 minutes. Approximately 30% of four-year-olds can wait.
Stuart Shanker, a leading professor of philosophy and psychology from York University and expert on self-regulation says: "What's fascinating about it is that these kids who could wait, later scored on average 200 points higher on their college entrance exams. They also have far fewer problems with aggression and far less vulnerability to risky behaviours. So this is huge."
Self-regulation is a better indicator of school success than IQ", said Shanker, so improving a child's ability to self-regulate could improve his life outcomes.
Some children are dealing with too much stress in their lives because of biological, social, psychological and/or environmental reasons.
These stressors do not have to be major life problems, like parental divorce. Smaller issues, like being hyper-sensitive to auditory stimulus, can cause a child to not be able to regulate their impulses.
To help explain how this works, Shanker pointed to the six stages of arousal. The first level is sleeping, the 6th level is when a person is completely overwhelmed and hyper-stimulated. Level four, when someone is calmly focussed and alert, is where learning happens best.
- Asleep
- Drowsy
- Hypo-alert
- Calmly focussed and Alert
- Hyper-alert
Children vary considerably in their capacity for optimal regulation. Using the analogy of driving a car, Shanker said some children are constantly pushing too hard on the gas or the brake pedal, jumping erratically from one level to another. Children who have trouble self-regulating can be helped, but first they must be understood.
Parents and teachers need to find out what is causing the child to slide from level four, the ideal state, into the hypo-alert state (daydreaming) or the hyper-alert state (being loud, moving around).
One example Shanker gives is of a child who had a super-sensitive auditory system and was overwhelmed by sounds. Controlling those sounds helped her to stay focussed in class. Some kids may find visual and auditory stimuli distracting, others may find it taxing to sit on a hard seat for too long. If a child is day dreaming, the teacher has to "up-regulate" the child. The teacher is going to have to work a little harder to get him in to level 4.
As well, the attention span of a child with self-regulation problems will be shorter than other children. If the pace of the lesson is patterned on the attention span of children without this problem, those that do have trouble will fall further and further behind. It is important to remember that children with self-regulation problems are not at fault in anyway and it would be unfortunate if the child was treated as if they were at fault.
What can the teacher do to help children learn to self-regulate?
Some children have to work much harder than others to perform the same tasks. Researchers have found that play-based learning helps children develop self-regulation. Children play with things that interest them. Play demands perspective taking, the child has to figure out what others are thinking. Play fosters communication. In play, children are making connections between objects, people and ideas. Play presents challenges and fosters inquiry in children.
- It is important for the teacher to observe children and notice stimuli that calm and that agitate.
- The teacher needs to schedule for "pretend" play opportunities.
- Children need to play games with rules.
- The teacher needs to use children's questions and passions to launch inquiry-based projects.
- Children need to learn to make, follow and discuss plans
For more information on Dr. Stuart Shanker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJRtbcChy0Y&feature=relmfu
The ELECT document - Early Learning for Every Child Today - a framework for Ontario early years settings.