The “Early Years Opportunity” Executive Function and Self-regulation

1. 1 The “Early Years Opportunity” Executive Function and Self-regulation

2. 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.

3. 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”? What experiences, activities and games can help children to practice these essential skills? How can you support your child as they learn to regulate their attention, emotions and behavior? Who are the people, places and resources that can help support your child? Education for Communities, Communities for Education

4. 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).

5. 3 For you, what was most important about our last conversation? Explore: Have you done anything differently since then?

6. Hosting Notes Parents sharing impressions from the last conversation… • 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. Suggestions:

7. 4 Thinking ahead …What foundational skills will your child need to be ready for kindergarten? Explore: Reflect on the general abilities that you have needed to succeed in both school and the workplace?

8. 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).

9. 5 Explore together this short video from the Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University:Experiences Build Brain ArchitectureExecutive Function: Skills for life and learning Explore: Why is it so important for a child to develop a strong “air traffic control system”?

10. 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

11. 6 How can you support your child as they learn to regulate their attention, emotions and behavior? “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 in-fancy, throughout childhood, and into adolescence.” – Centre on the Developing Child

12. 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 self-control; 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.

13. 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.”

14. 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.

15. 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?

16. 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.

17. 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?

18. 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…