Self-Regulation in

Children Birth - Five

Nancy K. Paulson

Adler Graduate

School

1

Objectives

• To give an overview of self-regulation from

birth through age five

• To provide interventions that build self-

regulation in young children

• To provide activities & resource information

that repair self-regulation

2

Definition of Self-Regulation

• The control or organization of behavior

• Active suppression process engaged for the

purposes of pursuing a goal

• Involves control over a variety of processes

3

Definition of Self-Regulation (Jahromi and Stifter,2008)

• Emotion regulation

• Behavioral control

• Executive function

4

Examples of Self-Regulation

• Complies with requests

• Initiates and/or ceases activities

• Modulates intensity, frequency &

duration of verbal & motor acts

• Postpones actions

5

Examples of Self-Regulation

• Generates socially approved behaviors (Boyer, 2009)

• Remembering & following directions

• Remembering class rules

• Persisting on a difficult task

6

Examples of Self-Regulation

• Planning solutions to a problem

• Stopping impulsive response in favor of adaptive behavior

• Soothability

• Focusing on a task while ignoring distractions

7

Marshmallow Test

8

• VIDEO:

• Marshmallow Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY

Adlerian Lens (Adler, 1956)

• Alfred Adler 1870-1937; ophthalmologist/GP

MD developed psychological interests

• Contemporary of Freud

• Believed behavior is goal directed

9

Adlerian Lens (Adler, 1956) (cont.)

• Lifestyle is built on “mistaken beliefs”

• Foundation laid by early interactions with

others in the first five years of life

• Social interest

10

Goals of Misbehavior

• Attention Connect Cooperation

• Power Capable Self-Reliance

• Revenge Count Contribution

• Avoidance Courage Resiliency

The Crucial C’s and Rudolf Dreikurs’ 4 Short-Range Goals of Misbehavior . From A parent’s guide to understanding and motivating children. Newton Centre, MA: Connexions Press. Used with permission.

11

Fifth Goal of Misbehavior

•May need to add a goal due to current family

risk factors:

• Safety Care Valued

12

Cultural Bias (Bronson,2000)

Western influence:

• Values independent effort

• Achievement

• Self-reliance

• Personal responsibility

13

Example

• Goal Directed Behavior

• VIDEO:

Fake Crying; trying to avoid bedtime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7zxQllsd9E

14

Effects of Poor Self-Regulation

• Family disruptions

• Expulsion (Gilliam and Shahar, 2006)

• School readiness

(Blair and Diamond, 2008)

• Medication (Zito et al., 2000, Stanwood & Levitt, 2004)

15

Factors in Development

of Self-Regulation

• Caregiver fit

• Sensitive, gentle guidance

• Modeling and coaching of language use

• Encouragement of responsibility (Dennis, 2006)

• Modeling positive behaviors

16

Factors in Development

of Self-Regulation (cont).

• Positive reinforcement enhancing children’s

desire to try new and more challenging tasks

• Language development

• Structured environmental support

Factors in Development

of Self-Regulation (cont).

• Ability to shift from external to internal

control

• Symbolic play and language use

• Private speech

• Secure Attachment

Secure Attachment

• Available and responsive mothers as a

secure base

• Dependable presence (Ainsworth, Bell, 1978, Bowlby, 1958))

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Infant Attachment

• Repeatedly associated in regulatory

development from emotional arousal to

cognitive abilities (Kochanaska, Philibert, & Barry, 2009)

• Enhances ability to develop self-calming

strategies (Florez, 2011)

20

Deterrents to Self-Regulation

• Poverty

• Maternal depression

• Chaotic, over-stimulating or under- stimulating environment

• Physical or sexual abuse

• Difficulties with sleep-wake cycle (Conway, 2009)

21

Deterrents to Self-Regulation

• Failing to provide challenging

opportunities

• Developmental delays

• Temperament

• Language delays/lack of language experiences

22

Deterrents to Self-Regulation

• Parental misunderstanding of appropriate

developmental expectations • Negative, insensitive or unresponsive caregivers who

model controlling behavior rather than encouraging limited

autonomy

(McClelland and Cameron, 2011)

• Punishing young children when failing to sustain attention

longer than a few minutes or fail to calm themselves

quickly when frustrated

(Florez, 2011)

Deterrents to Self-Regulation

• Use of coercive control (Bronson, 2000)

• Absence of positive experiences (Gearity, 2009)

• Lack of private speech

• Language delays (Qi and Kaiser, 2004)

24

Support & Interventions

• Good news

• Self-Regulation is a teachable skill

• Self-Regulation serves as a protective factor

with low parental warmth or negative

parenting (McClelland & Cameron, 2011)

25

Developmental Repair (Gearity, 2009)

• Co-Regulation

• Repair occurs within relationship context

• Focus on development not behavioral control

26

Developmental Domains Relating, Thinking, Feeling, and Acting

• An effective co-regulator:

• Externally models and reflects words

• Resists the assumption that children are

cognitively aware of their behavioral choices

• Provides the opportunity for children to

become aware of thoughts, feelings, and

resultant actions.

27

Developmental Domains Relating, Thinking, Feeling, and Acting (cont.)

• Children are understood then gain insight into

others

• Understanding emotions results in better

management of emotional and behavioral

upset

28

Tools for Co-Regulators (Gearity, 2009)

• Be quiet

• Breathe slowly

• Eye contact or not

• Verbally match

• Stay in the present

• Appropriate calming touch

29

Tools for Co-Regulators (cont.)

• Remain physically nearby

• Find distractions to share

• Shifting attention

• Repetitive play

• Physical movement

• Recognize return to less aroused state

• Admire the accomplishment

• Positive emotional support

30

Co-Regulation Approaches (Vallotton & Ayoud, 2011)

• Encourage young children to talk aloud when

solving difficult problems

• Encourage breadth of spoken vocabulary

• Vocabulary vs. talkativeness

• “Spoken words are mental tools with which to

regulate oneself by exerting control over one’s

own thought, emotions, and behavior, and perhaps

one’s environment” (p.179).

31

Emotion Mentors (Boyer, 2009)

• Help connect behavior to response

• Model, teach, encourage identification of

verbal & non-verbal cues.

32

Emotion Mentors (Boyer, 2009) (cont.)

• Toddlers • Comforting language

• Gentle movements

• Gestures of concern

• Help recognizing negative emotions

• Help attach feeling with pictorial form

• Help knowing “why” of anger

• Help reorganizing escalating anger

• Use reflective language

33

Emotion Mentors (Boyer, 2009) (cont.)

• Four year olds

• Help recognizing signs of distress

• Modeling & encouraging acts of kindness

• Invitations to practice kind behaviors

• Reflective language

• Help recognizing escalating anger

• Model problem solving

• Verbal recognition of feelings and why of feelings

34

Emotion Mentors (Boyer, 2009) (cont.)

• Five and Six year olds

• Support in distress recognition

• Encourage taking responsibility for behavior

• Give opportunities to think about own/others

emotions

• Realize they have emotions

• Identify varied emotions

• Learn appropriate emotion expression

• Talk about how they feel when expressing emotions

35

Emotion Mentors (Boyer, 2009) (cont.)

• Five and Six year olds

• Encourage Social Interest

• Taking the perspective of another

• Emotion influence on others

• Conflict resolution & social problem solving

• Respect for self, others, & other’s work

36

Activity Domains Targeting Self-Regulation (Bobula, 2009)

• Inhibitory Behaviors

• Attention

• Planning, organizing, & creating

37

Activities

• Games:

• Red Light, Green Light

• Duck, Duck, Goose (Grey Duck)

• Statue Freeze Tag

• Run & Stop

• Picture Bingo

• Simon Says

• Musical Chairs

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Activities

• Songs/Finger Plays

• The Freeze & Movement Song – Steve & Greg

• Bear Hunt – Dr. Jean

• Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes

• Where is Thumbkin?

• Hokey Pokey

• B-I-N-G-O

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Activities

• Fidget Toys

• Constructive

• Dramatic play – (at least 30-60 minutes)

• Block building

• Painting

• Drawing

40

Helpful Resources

• http://www.washburn.org/about/WashburnPubl

ishesTrainingManual.html

• http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/index.html

• http://www.developingbrains.org

41

Summary

• Self-Regulation is a critical developmental

process

• Self-Regulation is a teachable/learnable skill

• Utilize the tools, activities, and resources that

encourage self-regulatory development

42

References

• Adler, A. (1956). H. L. Ansbacher & R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.), The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler

New York, NY: Harper & Row.

• Ainsworth, M., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior

of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41(1), 49-67.

• Blair, C., & Diamond, A. (2008). Biological processes in prevention and intervention: the promotion of

self-regulation as a means of preventing school failure. Developmental Psychopathology, 20(3), 899-911.

doi: 10.1017/S0954579408000436

• Bobula, K. A. (2009). Developing brains: Ideas for parenting and education from the new brain science.

Retrieved from http://www.developingbrains.org

• Boyer, W. (2009). Crossing the glass wall: Using preschool educators’ knowledge to enhance parental

understanding of children’s self-regulation and emotion regulation. Early Childhood Education Journal,

37(3), 175-182. doi: 10.1007/s10643-009-0343-y

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References

• Bowlby, J. (1958). The nature of the child's tie to his mother . International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 39,

350-373.

• Bronson, M. B. (2000). Self-regulation in early childhood. New York: The Guliford Press.

• Conway, A. (2009). Neurophysiological basis of self-regulation in children and youth. Reclaiming Children

and Youth, 17(4), 16-22.

• Dennis, T. (2006). Emotional self-regulation in preschoolers: the interplay of child approach reactivity,

parenting, and control capacities. Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 84-97. doi: 10.1037/0012-

1649.42.1.84

• Florez, I. (2011, July). Developing young children’s self-regulation through everyday experiences.

Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201107/Self-Regulation_Florez_OnlineJuly2011.pdf

• Gearity, A. (2009). Developmental repair: A training manual. Minneapolis, MN: Washburn Center for

Children.

References

• Gilliam, W., & Shahar, G. (2006). Preschool and child care expulsion and suspension: rates and predictors

in one state. Infants & Young Children: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Special Care Practices, 19(3), 228-

245.

• Kochanska, G., Philibert, R. A., & Barry , R. A. (2009). Interplay of genes and early mother-child

relationship in the development of self-regulation from toddler to preschool age. The Journal of Child

Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(11), 1331-1338. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02050.x.

• Jahromi, L. B., & Stifter, C. A. (2008). Individual differences in preschoolers' self-regulation and theory of

mind. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54(1), 125-150.

• Lew, A., & Bettner, B. L. (1996). From: A parent’s guide to understanding and motivating children.

Newton Centre, MA: Connexions Press.

• Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the

Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in

the preschool years: Theory research and intervention (pp. 121-160). University of Chicago Press.

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References

• McClelland, M. E., & Cameron, C. E. (2011). Self-regulation and academic achievement in elementary

school children. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2011(133), 29-44.

• Qi, C., & Kaiser, A. P. (2004). Problem behaviors of low-income children with language delays: An

observation study. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(3), 595-609. doi:

10.1044/1092-4388(2004/046)

• Stanwood, G D., & Levitt, P., (2004). Drug exposure early in life: Functional repercussions of changing

neuropharmacology during sensitive periods of brain development. Current opinion in pharmacology, 4(1),

65. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2003.09.003

• Vallotton, C., & Ayoub, C. (2011). Use your words: The role of language in the development of

toddlers’ self-regulation. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26(2), 169-181.

doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.09.002

• Zito, J M. ,Safer, D. J., dosReis, S, Gardner, J.F., Boles, M., & Lynch, F (2000). Trends in the prescribing of

psychotropic medications to preschoolers. JAMA (Chicago, Ill.), 283(8), 1025. doi:

10.1001/jama.283.8.1025

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