Improving Self-Regulation in Young Children through Circle Time Games

Children’s self-regulation (including cognitive processes of attentional flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control) is a strong predictor of school readiness and academic achievement throughout childhood and adulthood.  In spite of this, many young children enter kindergarten without strong levels of self-regulation and there is limited research examining strategies for improving self-regulation prior to kindergarten entry.  The present paper 1) reviews research examining relations between self-regulation and school readiness and 2) presents results from a self-regulation intervention utilizing an exclusively low-income sample.  The intervention examined if children in an intervention group demonstrated greater gains in self-regulation and academic outcomes over the prekindergarten year compared to children in a control group.

The study sample consisted of 276 children (49% boys), enrolled in 14 Head Start classrooms.  Participants ranged in age from 37.98 to 66.04 months (M=51.69, SD=6.55), and 33% were English Language Learners.  Maternal education ranged from 2 to 16 years (M=11.15, SD=2.70). In the fall and spring of the prekindergarten year, children’s self-regulation was directly assessed with two measures (the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders and the Dimensional Change Card Sort) and academic achievement was measured with the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement in English or Spanish. In the winter, classrooms were randomly assigned to either a control (n=7; 150 children) or treatment group (n=7; 126 children).  In the fall, there were no significant differences in self-regulation or academic achievement scores between the groups.  Over 8 weeks, children in the intervention participated in two 30-minute playgroups per week consisting of circle time games that help children practice self-regulation.

Results indicated that children in the intervention group demonstrated stronger gains in self-regulation compared to the control group in the spring of the preschool year. Although there were no significant direct effects of the intervention on academic skills, significant indirect intervention effects emerged on spring achievement through self-regulation.  Finally, group comparisons revealed that the intervention was related to significantly higher math skills for children who were English language learners.  In other words, English language learners who participated in the intervention demonstrated stronger levels of math in the spring of preschool in comparison to children in the control group and relative to English speakers who also participated in the intervention. Results from this study and related research support the importance of self-regulation for academic outcomes, and support the efficacy of a school readiness intervention in promoting self-regulation and achievement.