Self-regulation in Preschool and Early Elementary Classrooms: Why It Is Important and How to Promote It

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the role of self-regulation for academic achievement and behavior in the early childhood education classroom. It discusses neurocognitive processes involved in self-regulation including response inhibition, voluntary attention, and working memory. Response inhibition creates a delay in responding which makes it possible to override habitual behavior, thus providing students with an opportunity to master new skills. Voluntary attention is involved in selecting relevant information and combating distractors, while working memory is essential for maintaining internal representations that guide students’ behavior and task performance. The paper identifies classroom demands for these processes. It further discusses environmental, instructional, and behavioral interventions to foster self-regulation skills in the classroom.