1
The “Early Years Opportunity”
Executive Function and Self-regulation
Hosting Notes
Early Years Parent Café Goal:
To build awareness and capacity of
parents and caregivers in support of
early childhood development through:
• strengthened awareness of “the core story” and the early years
opportunities.
• fostering relationships, connections and mutual support by bringing
people together in dialogue.
• validating the current knowledge and capacity of parents and caregivers
by creating a space for sharing of successes and challenges.
• highlighting and sharing available resources and supports.
• learning together to support capacity building that inspires further
learning and action.
2
The Early Years Opportunity
Executive Function and
Self-regulation
Conversation Overview
What skills will
your child
need when
they start
kindergarten?
Why is it so
important for a
child to develop
a strong “air
traffic control
system”?
How can you
support your child
as they learn to
regulate their
attention,
emotions and
behavior?
What
experiences,
activities and
games can help
children to
practice these
essential skills?
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Who are the
people, places
and resources
that can help
support your
child?
Hosting Notes
Are there are other questions about early years
development parents would like to discuss?
Suggestion:
• Use a flipchart/blackboard/newsprint on table/ to record
these questions and revisit them at the end of the session.
Explore:
Start the conversation by
asking parents/caregivers
to share something about
their child(ren).
3
For you, what was
most important about
our last conversation?
Explore:
Have you done
anything
differently
since then?
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Hosting Notes
Parents sharing impressions from
the last conversation…
Suggestions:
• What made the biggest impression? What sparked you to try
something new? Did you have the chance to share this information
with others?
• Collecting the ideas that parents felt were most important as well
as ways that they have integrated ideas and responded can spark
further discussion and exchange.
• Recording these ideas can be helpful for further reflection and is
very important for monitoring the impact of the conversations.
4
Thinking ahead …
What foundational
skills will your child
need to be ready for
kindergarten?
Explore:
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Reflect on the
general abilities
that you have
needed to succeed
in both school and
the workplace?
Hosting Notes
Foundational skills that children
will need to begin kindergarten:
Example
• Attention
• Ability to follow directions, routines and rules.
• Listen to the teacher.
• Cooperate with other children.
• Work independently.
Skills that helped me at school and in the workplace:
• Independence
• Flexibility and problem solving
• Ability to listen to others opinions but make my own
decisions
• Creativity and adaptability
• Persistence
• Motivation
Explore:
Alberta Education’s
Inspiring Action:
Competencies of an
Educated Albertan
(in the 21stCentury).
5
Explore together this short video from
the Center on the Developing Child,
Harvard University:
Experiences Build Brain Architecture
Executive Function: Skills for life
and learning
Explore:
Why is it so
important for a
child to develop a
strong “air traffic
control system”?
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Hosting Notes
•
•
•
•
A child’s “air traffic control system”,
self-regulation and executive function
skills allows them to:
focus and pay attention (inhibitory control)
remember mental tasks and follow rules (working memory)
make and revise plans and decisions (cognitive flexibility)
avoid “collisions” through hasty actions.
These skills will impact all future social behavior
and learning, impacting all realms of development.
• Children will function better in kindergarten and beyond.
• Lags in this area are associated with longer term struggles.
• “Qualities essential for the 21st century workplace all build from
these skills… creativity, flexibility, self-control and discipline all
have their origins in executive function.”
• While the frontal lobe of the brain responsible for these skills
develops into adulthood, essential foundational skills are learned
from infancy into early childhood.
“These skills enable a child to
take initiative but also to
comply; be emotionally
expressive, but also to
regulate expression; to
sustain attention and stay
focused but also to run and
play; to interact socially with
other children and adults and
to become conscientious.”
Harvard Centre on the
Developing Child
6
How can you support your
child as they learn to regulate
their attention, emotions and
behavior?
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“As essential as they
are, we aren’t born
with the skills that
enable us to control
impulses, make plans,
and stay focused. We
are born with the
potential to develop
these capacities—or
not—depending on our
experiences during infancy, throughout
childhood, and into
adolescence.”
– Centre on the
Developing Child
Hosting Notes
Parents support development of
executive function and
self-regulation through:
•
Modeling these skills of reflective rather ran reactive response in your day to day
interactions: pause, breath and reflect before responding when frustrated; expressing your
emotions verbally; writing a grocery list, making and keeping plans…
•
Care-giving: sensitive and responsive interactions, responding to the individual child,
support of emotional regulation, promoting joint attention, valuing persistence and
completion.
•
Ordered and predictable environments: clear limits and expectations: daily routines,
planning, physical exercise; limiting and moderating stress, distractions and technology.
•
Supporting the child in the gradual transition from being dependent on adults, to relying
on their own skills: supports like routines, cues, breaking down instructions, letting the child
know what to expect, what comes next
•
Opportunities to practice: experiences with give-and-take interactions with others;
opportunities for the child to direct their own activities; self-directed play that promotes
planning and problem solving, and the opportunity to deal with frustration and learn selfcontrol; playing games and enjoying activities that “pull” on these skills.
The process of moving from becoming ‘other-regulated’ to ‘self-regulated” develops
over a long period of time. Having developmentally appropriate expectations helps
to find the child’s zone of challenge rather than frustration.
7
What experiences,
activities and games
can help children to
practice these
essential skills?
Explore:
“Play is important to
learning and provides an
environment where
children can work
together to solve a
problem.”
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Hosting Notes
Activities and experiences that
support the development of these
essential skills…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Self-directed time to explore and discover
Household chores and responsibilities
Reading and oral story telling
Games with rules and turn taking
Freeze tag, moving to the beat of music, Simon says
Memory games
Make believe play
Incorporating any opportunities to plan, focus, direct,
remember, problem solve and adapt into your day models
and contributes to developing these essential skills.
8
As we close our conversation…
What else would you like to
know?
It takes a village to raise a child…
Who are the people, places and
resources that help support our
children?
Explore:
Where can
you go to find
information
and local
supports and
resources?
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Hosting Notes
Quality resources for parents,
caregivers and children:
• Parent Link Centres
• Alberta Health Services
– Family physicians/Pediatricians
– Community health centres
– Healthy Parents – Healthy Children
• First 2000 Days
• Inform Alberta
• 311
• Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
• Harvard Centre on the Developing Child
• Other parents and family members
• Others?…
Accessing these and other quality resources is easy with the
consolidated listing provided for parents and caregivers in
Parent Cafe’s Early Years Resources handout or resource link.
9
After our discussion today,
would you like to set a goal
or try something new to?
Explore:
What would
you like to
share with
another parent
or caregiver?
Education for Communities, Communities for Education
Hosting Notes
Great ideas from parents:
Examples:
• Share some of what I learned with other parents at
playgroup
• Involve my child in planning events and shopping
• Explore local resources for information and programs.
• Others?
Reminder: provide any follow up information
requested…