Preschoolers need to be able to self-regulate in order to be

successful academically and socially in the classroom. It is reported

that preschoolers who are unable to self-regulate are expelled 15

times more than older students (Bodrova & Leong, 2005). Teachers

often find themselves working on behavior management rather than

following their lesson plans. In particular, both regulation of emotion in

appropriate social interaction and goal-directed behavior, as well as

the regulation of attention and the use of strategies in the execution of

cognitive tasks are important for successful adjustment to school

(Blair, 2003). These are the aspects of self-regulation important for

learning. Self-regulation is a skill that teachers rank as one of the

highest expectations that they have for their students. It is usually

acquired between the ages of 3 to 5 years of age.

Self-regulation is the ability to control behavior, emotions, and

thoughts. It is dependent upon the kind of experiences that children

have had. Children who have been in a school setting before, have a

much easier time self-regulating. It is a learned skill. Children need

experiences where they can delay gratification, control their emotions,

experience transitions with successful outcomes, and focus their

attention. Children need success in inhibiting themselves in the

interest of a future goal. Bodrova and Leong (2003) describe self-

regulation as a deep, internal mechanism that underlies mindful,

intentional, and thoughtful behaviors of children. It is the capacity to

control one's impulses, both to stop doing something (even if one

wants to continue doing it) and to start doing something (even if one

doesn't want to do it). This is called inhibition. Self-regulation can also

be described as a delay of gratification. Cemore and Herwig (2005)

define it as the ability to deny impulse in the service of a goal and that

it has to be self-imposed. Children have many opportunities in the

early childhood classroom to delay gratification. The atmosphere that

the teacher creates requires the children to control themselves and

their impulses.

Children who can self-regulate have an easier time in the

classroom. Self-regulation skills underlie many of the behaviors and

attributes associated with successful school adjustment (Blair, 2003).

Teachers are able to focus on teaching when children are able to

control their impulses which lead to a better learning environment for

all children. There is a direct link between emotional regulation and

school work. Work on the neurobiology of the interaction between

emotional and cognitive aspects of child functioning provides

increasing support for this emphasis and suggests that successful

emotional regulation plays a foundational role in the development of

the cognitive skills that are important for early success in school (Blair

2003). On the other hand, lack of the ability to delay gratification has

been demonstrated as relating to deficits in many aspects of

development and to undesirable behaviors (Lee 2008). With these

undesirable behaviors in their classrooms, teachers put more focus on

the social behavior of the children. This takes away time that can be

spent teaching the necessary academic skills that the children need.

Bronson (1995) found that pre-kindergarten children who spent more

time uninvolved in the classroom and had difficulty with rules or with

the teacher, scored lower on a standardized cognitive achievement

measure. Behavior management becomes the teacher’s primary

focus. In addressing gaps in the knowledge and skills of young

children, we must also address the development of self-regulation as

the underlying skill that makes learning possible. As Bodrova and

Leong (2205) point out, early childhood programs present an important

opportunity to influence self-regulation in young children. Thus,

instruction in self-regulation in early years deserves the same-if not

more- attention as instruction in academic subjects. Early childhood

educators need to be able to teach both academic subjects as well as

social management behaviors. Self-regulation is a process that must

be fostered over time. All young children are more impulsive than

older children; they must be taught self-regulation. How can teachers

decrease incidences of aggression in their classrooms while observing

from a distance? By providing visual cues and tangible reminders,

teachers can promote self-regulation in children from afar.

Self-regulation is a social behavior that children learn through

their experiences at home and at school. Arnold Gessell believed that

behavior unfolds according to a child’s inner time table. He argued

that children learn best to self-regulate when we pay attention to their

own maturing ability to tolerate controls (Crain, 2000). When adults in

their world reinforce what they are doing, or consider their behavior

acceptable, then children learn self-control through extrinsic

motivation. Gessell said that this could happen intrinsically if we allow

the child enough time to develop according to their own schedule.

Being able to inhibit one’s impulses is an underlying ability in the

capacity to self-regulate. Albert Bandura said that as people become

socialized, they depend less on external rewards and punishments and

increasingly regulate their own behavior; they establish their own

internal standards (Crain, 2000). Children’s internal standards come

from self-discipline. Where children can judge for themselves what is

right and what is wrong based on reasoning, concern for others, and an

understanding of acceptable and unacceptable behavior (Gregory,

2002). This ability to self-regulate first develops in the home.

Children need time to develop internal motivation. That is,

children proceed from depending on others to regulate their behavior

for them to achieving greater degrees of self-regulation (Gregory,

2002). This process involves several steps. When children are born,

they are considered to be amoral. They are not able to make ethical

judgments about their actions (Gregory, 2002). When children rely on

others to monitor their actions closely, this is known as adherence

(Gregory, 2002). The adults in their life supply verbal cues or alter the

environment in order to shape their behavior. As children get older,

the adults in their life expect them to make these kinds of moral

decisions on their own. Children’s ability to distinguish between

appropriate and inappropriate behaviors evolve in conjunction with

changes in their cognitive powers (Gregory, 2002). Their cognitive

powers evolve in the classroom.

Vygotsky argued that as instruction leads to new knowledge and

skills, it also permits children to move to a new level of understanding

in which they become aware of and achieve control over their mental

activities (Berk, 1995). Questioning scaffolds children into focusing on

their goals in an activity, taking them to the next level. Granting the

child responsibility by stepping back as much as possible implies that

the manner in which adults give assistance is important for promoting

children’s learning and mastery over their own behavior (Berk, 1995).

When adults continually influence children’s behavior through explicit

commands and by giving them immediate answers to momentary

problems, learning and self-regulation are reduced (Berk, 1995).

Allowing children time to problem solve and experiment with their own

solutions results in their skill level increasing. Teachers can help them

reach this point by asking questions that would lead to the solution

that would be desirable. A history of being rewarded for inhibition

builds up impulse control. When teachers and parents regulate

children’s task behavior by asking questions that permit the child to

participate in the discovery of solutions, learning and self-regulation

are maximized (Berk, 1995).

There are several myths about the education of children who

cannot self-regulate. The first myth is that children will grow out of it;

that self-regulation comes with maturity. The older a child gets the

better impulse control he has. Children who cannot control their

emotions at age 4 are likely not to be able to follow the teacher’s

directions at age 6, and they will not become reflective learners when

they reach the levels of middle and high school (Bodrova & Leong,

2005). One of the problems with this myth is that educators do

nothing while waiting for this phase to pass. The cause of failure to

learn academic skills may in fact be due to the children’s lack of self-

regulation (Bodrova & Leong, 2005). Even if teachers were doing

everything right, students who cannot self-regulate are not paying

attention, cannot follow directions, or have a hard time remembering

what the teacher just said (Bodorova & Leong, 2005). The only thing

that results from this practice is chaotic and unmanageable

classrooms. Another myth that many educators share is that these

children have ADHD. The resulting practice is to identify, diagnose,

and medicate the “condition”(Bodrova & Leong, 2005). The

consequence of this practice is the over-diagnosis and medication of

children with ADHD. A third myth is that more teacher-directed

activities are needed to support the learning of impulsive children. The

resulting practice is that teachers end up conducting more large group

activities where they can control their student’s behavior. Children are

then unprepared to engage in self-initiated and independent activities

(Bodrova & Leong, 2005). Another misconception of children who

cannot self-regulate is that the families are to blame; that they did not

give them the skills or chances to control their behavior. The

consequence of this myth is that teachers blame parents and do

nothing or try to suggest different parenting practices. Here the

teachers miss an opportunity to work with the parents to positively

affect the self-regulation of children in their classrooms. So where

does this leave educators?

There are several ways that teachers can promote self-regulation

in their students. Teachers should make impulse control a goal for all

children in the classroom and structure activities that allow children to

practice this ability in a way that will ensure success. All young

children benefit from practicing deliberate and purposeful behaviors

and they can range from following simple rules in movement games

(such as “Simon Says”) to following multi-step directions necessary to

complete an art project (Bodrova & Leong, 2005). When children are

constantly being told what to do they have a hard time making

decisions their own decisions. To be able to internalize the rules of a

certain behavior and to apply them in a new situation, children need to

practice the rules in three different contexts. First, they need to follow

the rules when regulated by an adult or another child; second, they

need to be able to regulate other children in following the rules; and

finally, they need to apply the rules to themselves (Bodrova & Leong,

2005). Children learn to self-regulate in the same way that they learn

other concepts and skills. The early learning stages of learning self-

regulation involve the use of visual and tangible reminders that help

support children’s memory and attention (Bodrova & Leong, 2005). By

giving children visuals to focus their attention on, teachers can step

back and put their focus back into teaching. Another way to help

children is to allow for make-believe play. In this kind of play, children

are required to follow rules that are set by their peers. Children are

motivated to follow the rules of the play, if they do not, the play will

collapse. In such play, children take on different roles, where they first

discuss and then act out a pretend scenario, using props in a pretend

way (Bodrova & Leong, 2005). The focus of this study is to find out if

visuals (flashcards) stop the aggressive behavior when shown; 2) if the

visual of the desirable behavior (social story) helps in the reoccurrence

of the behavior; and 3) if the teacher controlling the environment that

she puts the child in (choice board on which area of the room the child

could go) helps decrease the incidences of aggression in the

classroom.

Overview

The study was conducted at an early childhood center servicing

children from 18 months to 5 years of age. The facility is located in a

metro-Detroit suburb in an affluent community. . The centers consist

of one early childhood special education classroom, two toddler rooms,

two 3 year old preschool classrooms, and three 4 year old rooms. All

of the rooms are full day programs offering child care before and after

school. The normal school hours are from 9:00am to 3:30pm. There

were three different kinds of visuals used with children in a 3 year old

preschool classroom: flashcards, social stories, and a choice board.

The preschool class consisted of 17 children ages 3 to 4 years

old. There are 7 boys and 10 girls. It is a tuition based preschool

program where the children attend different days so there is a different

group of students every day. Since the beginning of the 2008/2009

school year, there have been several incidences of aggression in the 3-

year old preschool classroom. . There is one head teacher and two

assistants in the classroom.

. In order to keep the study easy to understand, the target child

would change as there were several children who needed visual

reminders on a daily basis.

Timeline

This project will be implemented during the 2008/2009 school

year. It will begin in November and end in January. See Table 3.1 for

complete Timeline of project activities.

Methods

The teachers are going to try using visuals and tangible

reminders to help the target children throughout the day. The visuals

consist of flashcards with the desirable behavior displayed, a social

story of the acceptable behavior, and a clipboard (choice board) with

pictures of the different areas of the room (see Appendix B). The

desired outcome of the target child is to verbally express anger or

frustration, to continue with an activity over time, wait their turn to use

something, stay in an area of the classroom for a longer period of time,

follow the daily routine, and the absence of disruptive behavior; loud

outbursts, or destructive play with the classroom materials. The

visuals will be deemed as unsuccessful if the child continues to hit,

bite, make faces, make loud noises, run, get off task with daily routine,

and/or continue with destructive play: throw toys, knock over toys,

kick toys across the room, etc.

Data Collection

There will be anecdotal notes taken by the teachers (see

Appendix C) that represent self-regulation from the children as well as

the recording of the incidences of aggression. There was also a chart

developed (see Appendix D) where the teachers could record the

children’s behavior. Questionnaires will be gathering information from

other teachers in the center to see if they use visuals for aggressive

students in their classrooms (see Appendix E). I want to find out if

there is a connection between visual reminders and decreased

incidences of aggression.

Review

One of the many concerns that teachers have about aggression

is the ability for them to keep the classroom environment running

smoothly. Children who are aggressive tend to take time away from

the necessary academic subjects that need to be covered by the

teachers. This leaves the teachers feeling a little stressed when it

comes to their curriculum and lesson plans as they may not go as

planned due to the time constraint that can be created when their

attention is focused on behavior management. By introducing visuals

to the aggressive child, the teacher can continue with their lesson and

control the child’s behavior at a distance. The visuals give the teacher

the freedom they need to move about the room helping children focus

on their academic studies.

Narrative/Results

In early November I noticed that I was spending a lot of time with

children who were being aggressive in the classroom. Aggressive

meaning biting, hitting, making faces, making noises, destructive play,

breaking classroom rules, disrupting circle time, and the destruction of

another child’s work. I wanted to figure out a way that I could continue

working with other children (devoting my attention to the positive

behavior) but control the behavior of the other children who were

being aggressive. We would use verbal cues letting the child know the

desired behavior that we wanted to see (“Use your walking feet”,

“Inside voices”) but we kept finding that we would have to repeat them

quite often. I then involved the children in the activity posing the

question, “How can we keep our classroom safe?” They came up with

classroom rules: 1) walking when you’re inside, 2) using quiet inside

voices, 3) gentle touches, 4) look at your teacher when you hear them

call you, 5) no biting and 6) use your listening ears. I was quite

surprised at how well the activity went. I then posted them in the

classroom so that all the children could see them. In the beginning,

we would take a child over to the classroom rules to remind them of

what they came up with if they were doing the opposite (such as

running, yelling, etc.). Then, I made flashcards that the teachers could

carry about the classroom and show the picture of the desired

behavior to the child who was being aggressive. I conducted a team

meeting with my assistants to explain how to use the flashcards. We

would spot the child being aggressive walk over to them and get down

on there level, show them the picture and ask them what the picture

showed. Once the children responded with the answer, we would then

tell them, “Ms. ____ is worried that you’re going to ______ when you ___.

You need to use ________.” We would fill in the blanks with the

appropriate aggressive act and then tell the child what was on the

flashcard in the last blank of the statement. The data collected from

the anecdotal notes (see Appendix C) showed that there was a

decrease in aggression of the child once the picture was shown (see

Figure 4.1)..

During the month of December, I continued with the flashcards

but also introduced social stories to the children. The social stories

consisted of a picture schedule of the parts of the day where children

need to self-regulate. The social story we used (see Appendix B) was

during lunch and rest time. We were finding that during this time the

teachers were occupied with cleaning up after lunch and bathroom

duties that some children were having a hard time controlling their

behavior. The social story consists of the child putting their lunch box

in their cubby, using the bathroom, washing their hands, getting on

their cot, and resting on their cot. These were readily available to the

children so that if the teachers saw that the child was having a hard

time during this transition, they could say, “Go look at the social story

of lunch and rest time and then come back and tell me what you’re

supposed to be doing next. “ 86% of the time, the child was able to

tell the teacher what they were supposed to be doing and were able to

do it (see Figure 4.1). I also asked the director of the center if I could

hand out a questionnaire to the teachers that would get their input on

what they do in their classrooms with aggressive behavior (see

Appendix E). I wanted to make sure that it was okay to do this as

some people may have not wanted to participate.

In January, I continued with the flashcards and social stories, as

well as the anecdotal notes on the children’s behavior after the

introduction of a visual. I wanted to introduce the choice board to the

children. This was used when a child did not respond to the flashcards

or social stories. The choice board would consist of two areas of the

room (picked by me after I looked at who was in that area and what

kind of activity was there) where the child would be successful at

regulating their behavior and could pick which one they wanted to go

in. I conducted a team meeting with my assistants again to introduce

the choice board and how to use it. The children responded well to the

choice board, 85% of the times that the board had to be introduced,

the incidences of aggression decreased. I also handed out the

questionnaires to the teachers without explanation in January. I just

asked if they could answer the questions as I was looking for the words

visuals or pictures in their responses. I did not give any explanation as

to why I wanted to know what I was asking as I did not want to bias the

results. Of the 12 questionnaires handed out, 9 of them had the word

visual or picture in their response (see Table 4.1).

Promoting Self-Regulation at a

DistanceSara Nelson

2-14-09EC 650

Reports 1 & 2 & 3 & 4

References

Berk, Laura, & Winsler, Adam. (1995). Scaffolding Children’s Learning:Vygotsky and Early Childhood Education. Washington D.C.:

National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Blair, Clancy. (2003). Self-Regulation and School Readiness. ERIC Digest.

ED477640Bodrova, Elena., & Leong, Deborah J. (2005, September/October). Promoting

Self-Regulation in Learning. National Association of Elementary School Principals. 30-35.

Cemore, Joanna J., & Herwig, Joan E. (2005). Delay of Gratification and Make-Believe Play of Preschooler. Journal of Research in

ChildhoodEducation. 19.3, p251.

Chiu, Hsiu-Yueh., Lan, William., Lee, Pai-Lin., Wang, Chiao-Li. (2008). Helping

Young Children to Delay Gratification. Early Childhood Education.35 557-564.

Crain, William. (2000). Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.Kostelnik, Marjorie., Gregory, Kara., Soderman, Anne., Stein, Laura C.., &

Whiren, Alice., (2002). Guiding Children’s Social Development: Theory

To Practice. Albany NY: Delmar.

Table 3.1Month Activity

November Observing children and their behavior

Using verbal reminders of the desired behavior

Classroom rules with students

Introduced flashcard pictures to the classroom and would review them as well as the classroom rules during morning circle

Conducted team meeting with assistants to explain procedure with flashcards

Anecdotal notes on children’s behavior and reaction to flashcards

December Continuation of flashcards Continuation of anecdotal

notes Introduced social stories to

the classroom Anecdotal notes on

children’s behavior before and after the introduction of the social story

Asked permission of director to hand out questionnaire to other head teachers

January Continuation of flashcards and social stories

Continuation of anecdotal notes

Handed out questionnaires to teachers with minimal explanation of the study to ensure that there was no bias

Introduced chart to assistants

Continuation of filling out chart

Introduction of choice board Meeting with assistants to

instruct on what to do with choice board

Collection of questionnaires

Table 4.1

Questionnaire Visuals Mentioned NO mention of visuals

1 X

2 X

3 X

4 X

5 X

6 X

7 X

8 X

9 X

10 X

11 X

12 X