Developing Young Children's Self-Regulation Through Everyday . - Hawaii
Behaviors That Still Challenge Children and AdultsDeveloping Young Children’sSelf-Regulation throughEveryday ExperiencesIda Rose FlorezAs university faculty, Ioften collaborate with teacherswhen young children experience learning or behavior challenges. Every child is different.Some have difficulty expressing their ideas verbally. Somestruggle to get along with peersor follow classroom routines. Ineach case, however, one thingis the same: improved learningand behavior requires strongself-regulation skills.According to Ellen Galinsky,president and co-founder of theFamilies and Work Institute andauthor of Mind in the Making,regulating one’s thinking, emotions, and behavior is criticalfor success in school, work, and life (2010). A child whostops playing and begins cleaning up when asked or spontaneously shares a toy with a classmate, has regulatedthoughts, emotions, and behavior (Bronson 2000).From infancy, humans automatically look in the directionof a new or loud sound. Many other regulatory functionsbecome automatic, but only after a period of intentionaluse. On the other hand, intentional practice is requiredto learn how to regulate and coordinate the balance andmotor movements needed to ride a bike. Typically, onceone learns, the skill becomes automatic.Ida Rose Florez, PhD, is an assistant professor of early childhood education at Arizona State University. She studies youngchildren’s readiness for formal learning environments and therole that self-regulation plays in young children’s early educational experiences.A study guide for this article is available online at www.naeyc.org/yc. 461, 2, 3The process of moving fromintentional to automatic regulation is called internalization. Someregulated functions, such asgreeting others appropriatelyor following a sequenceto solve a math problem,always require intentionaleffort. It is not surprisingthen that research has foundthat young children who engagein intentional self-regulation learnmore and go further in their education (Blair & Diamond 2008).Children develop foundationalskills for self-regulation in thefirst five years of life (Blair 2002;Galinsky 2010), which meansearly childhood teachers play animportant role in helping young children regulate thinkingand behavior. Fortunately, teaching self-regulation doesnot require a separate curriculum. The most powerful wayteachers can help children learn self-regulation is by modeling and scaffolding it during ordinary activities. In thisarticle I define self-regulation and discuss how it develops.I then describe an interaction I observed in a kindergartenclassroom and explain how the teacher used an everydayexperience to strengthen children’s self-regulation.What is self-regulation?Self-regulation refers to several complicated processes thatallow children to appropriately respond to their environment(Bronson 2000). In many ways, human self-regulation islike a thermostat. A thermostat senses and measures temperature, and compares its reading to a preset threshold(Derryberry & Reed 1996). When the reading passes thethreshold, the thermostat turns either a heating or coolingsystem on or off. Similarly, children must learn to evaluatewhat they see, hear, touch, taste, and smell, and compareReprinted from Young Children July 2011
Ellen B. Senisiunavailable for hitting). Although children’s behavior isregulated by many processes that function outside theirawareness, researchers have found children’s intentionalself-regulation predicts school success (Zimmerman1994). When provided with appropriate opportunities,young children can and do learn intentional self-regulation. Researchers Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong, forexample, taught preschoolers to plan their play activitiesand found planning helped children develop stronger selfregulation skills (Bodrova & Leong 2007). Planning is animportant part of self-regulation. Teachers might suggestthat children sit on their hands to remind themselves to nothit or touch another child. To use this practice, childrenmust think about potential future actions and then imagineand enact alternative behaviors.Finally, just as a thermostat monitors conditions to maintain optimal temperature, self-regulation monitors conditions to maintain optimal arousal for a given task (Blair &Diamond 2008). Everyone experiences peaks and lows inlevels of attention, emotion, and motivation. As childrendevelop, they learn that some activities require them topay attention more (that is, the activities require increasedattentional arousal). For example, children need moreattentional arousal to watch a play than to chase a friend.The same is true for motivational arousal. Children need to“wake up” motivation more to stick with a challenging task Julia Luckenbillit to what they already know. Children must also learn tothen use self-regulation to communicate with any numberof systems (such as motor or language systems) to chooseand carry out a response.Self-regulation is clearly not an isolated skill. Childrenmust translate what they experience into information theycan use to regulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors(Blair & Diamond 2008). Infants translate the feel of soothing touch and the sound of soft voices into cues that helpthem develop self-calming skills. Toddlers and preschoolersbegin to translate cues from adults, such as “Your turn isnext,” into regulation that helps them inhibit urges to grabfood or toys. They begin to learn how long they must usually wait to be served food or to have a turn playing with adesired toy, which helps them regulate emotional tension.Because self-regulation involves different domains, regulation of one domain affects other areas of development.Emotional and cognitive self-regulation are not separate,distinct skills. Rather, thinking affects emotions and emotions affect cognitive development (Blair & Diamond 2008).Children who cannot effectively regulate anxiety or discouragement tend to move away from, rather than engage in,challenging learning activities. Conversely, when childrenregulate uncomfortable emotions, they can relax and focuson learning cognitive skills. Similarly, children experiencebetter emotional regulation when they replace thoughtslike “I’m not good at this” with thoughts like “This is difficult, but I can do it if I keep trying.” Regulating anxietyand thinking helps children persist in challenging activities,which increases their opportunities to practice the skillsrequired for an activity.Self-regulation is also like using a thermostat becauseboth are active, intentional processes. Setting a thermostatrequires an intentional decision and the device activelymonitors environmental temperature. Similarly, self-regulation requires intentional decisions (“I will not hit Andrew!”)and active processes (sitting on one’s hands so they areYoung Children July 2011Self-regulation is clearly not an isolated skill. Children must translatewhat they experience into information they can use to regulatethoughts, emotions, and behaviors.47
Behaviors That Still Challenge Children and Adultsthan to open a gift. Learning to persist in complex learningtasks that stretch children’s skills is one of the most important outcomes of healthy self-regulation. To regulate various arousal levels, children must recognize when arousal isnot optimal and take steps to modify it. Children often dothis by squirming or looking away (such as out a window orat other children’s activity)to arouse fading attention,or by withdrawing from others to reduce high physicalor emotional arousal.How does selfregulation develop?Self-regulation skillsdevelop gradually,so it is important thatadults hold developmentally appropriateexpectations for children’s behavior.As children develop, theirregulatory skills becomemore sophisticated (Kopp1982; Blair & Diamond2008). Infants begin toregulate arousal andsensory-motor responseseven before birth. An infantmay suck her thumb afterhearing a loud sound, indicating that she is regulating herresponses to the environment. Toddlers start to inhibitresponses and comply with adult caregivers. By age 4, children begin to exhibit more complex forms of self-regulation,such as anticipating appropriate responses and modifyingtheir responses when circumstances are subtly different.For example, clapping is appropriate after someone speaksduring sharing time at school, but not while a teacher isgiving directions.Self-regulation skills develop gradually, so it is importantthat adults hold developmentally appropriate expectationsfor children’s behavior. Vygotsky called the range of developmentally appropriate expectations the zone of proximaldevelopment (ZPD) (John-Steiner & Mahn 1996). The ZPD isthe “growing edge of competence” (Bronson 2000, 20) andrepresents those skills a child is ready to learn. Expectingchildren to demonstrate skills outside the ZPD is ineffectiveand often detrimental. Punishing young children when theyfail to sustain attention longer than a few minutes or fail tocalm themselves quickly when frustrated does nothing tohelp them learn self-regulation. Likewise, failing to providechallenging opportunities for children to advance theirskills can hinder their growth.As they develop, most children begin to use self-regulation skills without prompting or assistance. They developstrategies to manage incoming information, choose appropriate responses, and maintain levels of arousal that allowthem to actively participate in learning. When childrenroutinely self-regulate without adult assistance, they have48internalized self-regulation (Bronson 2000). Vygotsky([1934]1986) described internalization as a process inwhich children progress from co-regulating behavior withan adult to doing so independently. Thus, to develop selfregulation skills, children need many opportunities to experience and practice with adults and capable peers.Supporting self-regulation in akindergarten classroomIn the following vignette, I describe aninteraction I observed between Melissa, akindergarten teacher, and two children, Lucyand Tricia, as they explored the science center. Melissa used this everyday interactionto help the children practice and strengthenself-regulation skills.I sit quietly in a corner, observing Lucy, akindergartner with a moderate speech andlanguage delay. The children experiment withclay and rocks, water and blocks, and dirt andseeds. Their teacher, Melissa, moves amongthem, using her presence, words, and actionsto direct the children’s attention and helpthem stay motivated and engaged. Melissa makes her wayto the water table where 5-year-old Tricia constructs intricate waterways with plastic blocks. Lucy leans on the table,watching silently.“What are you doing, Tricia?” Melissa says as she pulls upa chair and sits next to the table.Tricia focuses intently as she repositions a block then straightens and looks at Melissa, “I’m making the water go fast!”Putting her hand in the water, Melissa smiles, “Wow, it ismoving fast! May I play?”“Sure!” Tricia nods.Melissa turns to Lucy, “Want to play with us?” Lucy nodsand Melissa hands her a block, “Where do you want to putit?” Lucy looks down and shrugs.“Lucy, try putting it here.” Tricia points to the next hole inthe path.Lucy hesitates but takes the block. She tries putting theblock in an empty space, but it doesn’t fit. Lucy rests theblock on the side of the water table and looks down. Gentlyrubbing Lucy’s back, Melissa asks, “Do you need help?”Lucy nods. Melissa leans in and whispers, “Tricia’s beendoing this a lot; why don’t you ask her how to do it? I bet shecould show you.”Lucy looks up at Tricia, “Can you help me?”“Sure!” Tricia takes Lucy’s hand and positions it over thenext space in the path. “Okay, push hard.” Lucy leans on theblock, pushing, but it does not go in. Tricia moves closer toLucy. “Push really, really hard. You can do it!” Lucy, lips tightand determined, pushes the block hard into the hole. Waterswirls around it as a smile spreads across her face.Young Children July 2011
Julia LuckenbillModelingBy demonstrating appropriate behavior, teachers showchildren how to accomplish a task and use the self-regulationneeded to complete it.For Lucy, Melissa modeled important language and socialskills: she indicated her intention to join the activity byYoung Children July 2011 Kimberly Regan SchoenfeldtHelping childrendevelop self-regulation skills is similarto helping childrenlearn to read, count,or ride a bike.Effective teachersuse a variety ofstrategies to bridgethe developmentalspace betweenwhat childrenalready know andcan do and morecomplex skills andknowledge. Threeteaching strategiesare critical for scaffolding children’sdevelopment of selfregulation: modeling, using hints andcues, and graduallywithdrawing adultsupport. Melissaused all three in herinteractions withLucy and Tricia. Shari SchmidtProvidingscaffolding tohelp childrendevelop selfregulationpulling up a chair. She then asked Tricia a question abouther activity, waited for an answer, and responded positively. For Tricia, Melissa modeled how to invite a reluctantobserver to play: she turned her attention to Lucy, offereda play invitation, handed her an object, and asked her tomake a play decision. When Lucy shrugged, Tricia followedMelissa’s lead and suggested a way Lucy could participate.All these behaviors required self-regulation. To takeconversational turns, children must recognize when theirturn has ended, then listen and wait until it is their turnagain. They must thenchoose an appropriateresponse from unlimited possibilities. Toask a playmate abouther play, a child mustinhibit talking abouther own play andlisten to someoneelse. Asking to playrequires an anxiouschild to regulate emotion, inhibit passivebehavior, increasearousal, and engagedespite potentialdiscomfort.Of all the selfregulation Melissamodeled, perhaps themost important scaffold was calling attention to the opportunityfor Lucy to join Tricia.To actively engage inlearning opportunities,children must attendto and recognize thata situation offers thepotential for interesting interactions andthings to do. Adultscan help childrendevelop this regulatory skill in a variety ofways, beginning withvery young children. When adults hold infants or toddlerson their laps and point to objects or letters in a book whileusing their voices to indicate excitement, they help children focus their attention on images that are most important for learning. By getting the ball rolling, Melissa not onlyhelped Lucy actively participate, but allowed Tricia to talkabout her science activity and demonstrate to others howto replicate her experiment. Karen PhillipsMelissa stands up and gives Lucy’s shoulder a gentlesqueeze. “Lucy, you did it! I knew you could! Tricia, thankyou!” Melissa moves toward another center. “You girls havefun. I’ll be at the next station if you need me.”As she walks away, Melissa hears Lucy say, “Thank you,Tricia!”“No problem,” Tricia replies. “Where should we put thenext block?”Melissa turns around just in time to see Lucy grab a block,shove it in place, and say, “There!”49
Behaviors That Still Challenge Children and AdultsUsing hints and cuesGradually withdrawing adult supportAt the heart of scaffolding is teachers’ careful attention totiming the withdrawal of their support. As children increasingly direct their attention appropriately, persist in challenging tasks, and uselanguage to engageothers or seek help,they increase theirability to act independently. As they do,teachers turn overmore of the regulating responsibilities tothe children’s control,while monitoring theirprogress and intervening when necessary toprovide appropriatesupport.Scaffolding children’s learningrequires skillfulremoval of adultassistance. Accordingto Salonen, Vauras,and Efklides (2005, 2) teachers must pay careful attentionto “the learner’s moment-by-moment changing independent functioning.” After observing a successful exchangebetween Tricia and Lucy, Melissa withdrew, but she stayedclose. She encouraged the children to ask for help shouldthey need it, let them know where to find her, and monitored their interaction.Withdrawing adult support from infants, toddlers, andpreschoolers requires continual monitoring by adults. Theyounger the child, the more inconsistent self-regulationskills will be. This inconsistency means adults need to beeven more careful about how quickly they withdraw support and pay careful attention to determine whether it isappropriate to intervene again. When an infant takes herfirst toddling walk across a room, she is not ready to walkindependently without adult supervision. Similarly, infantsand toddlers who have learned to routinely self-calm need Julia Luckenbill Kimberly Regan Schoenfeldt Shari SchmidtWhen teachers use simple directions, gestures, andtouch, they provide young children with valuable cuesabout how and when to regulate their emotions, attention,and behavior. Teachers can help children regulate attentionby pointing to or commenting on important or interesting aspects of a picture, word, or pattern. They can gentlytouch a child’s back to cue a child to relax (but keep inmind that for some children, touch may increase tension).Sometimes, children need hints and cues in additionto modeling. Lucy did not consistently engage. She nodded, indicating her desire to play, but looked down andshrugged when handed a block. She started to play, butgave up quickly when she encountered difficulty. Lucyneeded direct support. Melissa gently rubbed Lucy’s back,cuing her to remain calm and directing her attention awayfrom feelingfrustratedand towardsolving theproblem.Learning torecognizewhen oneneeds helpand to identify goodsources ofhit. Key phrases such as “look here,” “look at me,” or “lookwhere I am pointing” are explicit cues teachers can useto help young children focus their attention. Beginning ininfancy, teachers can help children recognize and nametheir emotions by calmly saying to frustrated or angrybabies and toddlers, “You sound angry” or “I wonder ifyou’re frustrated,” and then cuing them to start self-calmingby using gentle touch and saying, “Let’s relax” or “I’m hereto help you.” As children begin to use language, adults canprovide cues about when and how to ask for help, when totake a break, or when to try a different strategy.help are critical self-regulation skills. By leaning in and quietly suggesting that Lucy ask Tricia, Melissa hinted aboutwhere to get help and continued to cue Lucy to remaincalm. Melissa also modeled for Tricia how to give appropriate hints and cues. Tricia then imitated Melissa’s behavior,and coached Lucy to success.Younger children may need more explicit hints and cues.Cuing children to hold their hands or put them in theirpockets helps them regulate impulses to touch, grab, or50Reprinted from Young Children July 2011
increased adult support when they are ill or in unfamiliarsurroundings. At every age, learning self-regulation happenswithin children’s everyday experiences with trusted adultswho regulate their own thinking, attention, emotion, behavior, and motivation.ConclusionIntentionality and teaching self-regulation ineveryday interactions identifying each child’s self-regulation zone of proximaldevelopment and planning the kinds of modeling, hints, andcues the child needs to continue his or her development,Teaching young children self-regulation first requiresstrong teacher self-regulation. Children learn to regulatethoughts, feelings, behavior, andemotion by watching and respondingto adults’ self-regulation. Referringto motivational regulation, Galinskynotes, “Adults foster children’s motivation by being motivated themselves”(2010, 11). Lucy and Tricia’s interaction at the water table presented aperfect occasion to strengthen theirself-regulation skills. Melissa recognized the opportunity because she wasprepared to support self-regulationthrough her teaching practices. Sheintentionally reflected on the children’sneeds and planned in advance thetypes of modeling, hints, and cues shewould use to scaffold their self-regulation. Melissa plannedto help Lucy regulate emotions, motivation, language, andsocial skills so she could initiate interactions with her classmates. Melissa regulated her own attention, deliberatelylooking for opportunities to scaffold Lucy’s skills. Melissaknew Lucy’s skills were at the point where she needed onlya little nudge to engage. When the opportunity presenteditself, Melissa regulated her own interactions, being carefulto model behavior rather than direct Lucy.During the interaction, Melissa monitored Lucy’sresponses, mentally comparing them to her knowledgeof Lucy’s skills. She considered the types of support shehad previously decided Lucy needed. Melissa recognizedwhen Lucy needed hints and cues. Knowing gentle touchoften helped Lucy regulate anxiety, Melissa rubbed Lucy’sback to soothe her, kept her voice low when offering suggestions, and refrained from solving the problem for her.Melissa intentionally removed direct adult support andregulated her attention so she was aware of the girls’ continued interaction even as she moved away to engage withother children. Melissa’s self-regulated teaching practicecreated an environment that allowed her to scaffold thechildren’s self-regulation through an everyday classroomexperience. watching for opportunities in everyday classroom experiences to scaffold self-regulation,Teachers of young children play a vital role in helping children develop foundational self-regulation skills.Fortunately, young children’s everyday experiences offerabundant opportunities for developing self-regulation.Teachers can take advantage of these opportunities byChildren learn to regulate thoughts, feelings,behavior, and emotion by watching andresponding to adults’self-regulation. withdrawing direct support aschildren begin to demonstratenew skills, and monitoring children’sactivities to ensure they aresuccessful.When teachers deliberatelyteach self-regulation as partof everyday experiences, theyhelp children become activelyengaged learners, laying thefoundation for years of futuresuccess in school and life.ReferencesBlair, C. 2002. “School Readiness: Integrating Cognition and Emotion in aNeurobiological Conceptualization of Children’s Functioning at SchoolEntry.” American Psychologist 57: 111–27.Blair, C., & A. Diamond. 2008. “Biological Processes in Prevention andIntervention: The Promotion of Self-Regulation as a Means of Preventing School Failure.” Development and Psychopathology 20: 899–911.Bodrova, E., & D.L. Leong. 2007. Tools of the Mind: The VygotskianApproach to Early Childhood Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.Bronson, M.B. 2000. Self-Regulation in Early Childhood: Nature and Nurture. New York: Guilford.Derryberry, D., & M. Reed. 1996. “Regulatory Processes and the Development of Cognitive Representations.” Development and Psychopathology 8: 215–34.Galinsky, E. 2010. Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life SkillsEvery Child Needs. NAEYC special ed. New York: HarperCollins.John-Steiner, V., & H. Mahn. 1996. “Sociocultural Approaches to Learning and Development: A Vygotskian Framework.” Educational Psychologist 31: 191–206.Kopp, C.B. 1982. “Antecedents of Self-Regulation: A DevelopmentalPerspective.” Developmental Psychology 18: 199–214.Salonen, P., M. Vauras, & A. Efklides. 2005. “Social Interaction—WhatCan It Tell Us about Metacognition and Coregulation in Learning?”European Psychologist 10: 199–208.Vygotsky, L. [1934] 1986. Thought and Language. Trans. A Kozulin. Cambridge: MIT Press.Zimmerman, B.J. 1994. “Dimensions of Academic Self-Regulation: A Conceptual Framework for Education.” In Self-Regulation of Learning andPerformance: Issues and Educational Applications, eds. D.H. Schunk &B.J. Zimmerman, 3–24. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Copyright 2011 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at www.naeyc.org/yc/permissions.Reprinted from Young Children July 201151
46 Reprinted from Young Children July 2011 Behaviors That Still Challenge Children and Adults Developing Young Children's Self-Regulation through Everyday Experiences 1, 2, 3 As university faculty, I often collaborate with teachers when young children experi-ence learning or behavior chal-lenges. Every child is different.
long may you run - neil young 2 old man - neil young 3 out on the weekend - neil young 4 Heart Of Gold - Neil Young 5 Ohio - Neil Young 6 unknown legend - neil young 8 birds - neil young 9 powderfinger - neil young 10. Long May You Run Neil Young Intro .
The Young-Girl as Phenomenon 23 2. The Young-Girl as Technique of the Self 48 3. The Young-Girl as Social Relation 62 4. The Young-Girl as Commodity 74 5. The Young-Girl as Living Currency 88 6. The Young-Girl as Compact Political Apparatus 97 7. The Young-Girl as War Machine 105 8. The Young-Girl Against Communism 114 9.
Title: Developing self-awareness and high self-esteem Introduction This session focuses on the conditions children need in order to have high levels of self-esteem. In her highly acclaimed book Full esteem ahead, Diana Loomans (1994), describes self-esteem as being like good nutrition - the more our children have it, the healthier and
associated with higher level osf self-handicapping i n young people. Moreover, certainty of self-esteem and the trait of self-handicapping wer noe t associated with self-handicapping. Stud 6 explorey d the relationship between self-esteem and self-handicapping using domain-specific measure of self-esteems an, d task specific self-efficacy.
self-respect, self-acceptance, self-control, self-doubt, self-deception, self-confidence, self-trust, bargaining with oneself, being one's own worst enemy, and self-denial, for example, are thought to be deeply human possibilities, yet there is no clear agreement about who or what forms the terms between which these relations hold.
Independent Personal Pronouns Personal Pronouns in Hebrew Person, Gender, Number Singular Person, Gender, Number Plural 3ms (he, it) א ִוה 3mp (they) Sֵה ,הַָּ֫ ֵה 3fs (she, it) א O ה 3fp (they) Uֵה , הַָּ֫ ֵה 2ms (you) הָּ תַא2mp (you all) Sֶּ תַא 2fs (you) ְ תַא 2fp (you
3.6 Sexual Shame and Self-esteem; Self-esteem expert Rosenberg (1965) defined self-esteem as an attitude towards one's self, a self-worth with levels of positive and/or negative feelings about the self. Coopersmith (1967) described self-esteem as being an appreciation of oneself and showing self-respect,
The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols The Ultimate A-Z Guide from Alchemy to the Zodiac Adele Nozedar. For Adam and for the seven secrets ‘In every grain of sand there lies Hidden the soil of a star’ Arthur Machen ‘I do not need a leash or a tie To lead me astray In the land where dreams lie’ Yoav In Nature’s temple, living pillars rise Speaking sometimes in words of .
