SELF-REG
IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD
We help Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) and early years teams learn to reframe the signs of dysregulated stress states while developing the co-regulation skills and strategies that make a difference for all children in their care — especially those with the most challenging behaviours.
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EARLY CHILDHOOD FEATURES
Self-Reg in the Early Years
The early years are a time of extraordinary growth and development. Children’s capacity for self-regulation—how they manage energy expenditure in response to stressors and then recover from the effort—is wired during these critical years.
Self-Regulation: The Five Domains
Explore the five Domains of the Shanker Self-Reg® Framework – biological, emotion, cognitive, social & prosocial. Self-regulation refers to the way an individual deals with stress, in all its many forms, and then recovers from the energy expended.
Embracing A New School Reality For The Early Years
A Changing Vision: For years, I believed that self-regulation — like the other Learning Skills — were always secondary to academics. I was so concerned about meeting benchmarks. Then last year, I had a class that challenged my beliefs.
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MOST RECENT EARLY YEARS BLOGS
What Happens When “Soft Eyes” Are Not Enough
There is a phrase that circulates in Self-Reg communities: "soft eyes." It is a reminder to look at a child's behaviour with compassion and curiosity rather than judgment. It is a good reminder. An important one. And it is never the whole answer. At some point, most...
Co-Regulation Is Not a Calming Strategy. It Is a Relationship.
A lot of people come to Self-Reg having already heard the phrase "co-regulation." They might even feel like they know what it means: helping a child calm down, using a quiet voice, getting down to their level. Those things are not wrong. But they are the surface of...
A Failure Or A Stressor?: When Asking “Why” Leads To A New Perspective
As I was driving to school today, I was doing a lot of thinking. I really appreciate a longer ride to school, as this is when I have an opportunity to reflect and it's often when I start to see things differently. Today, my reflections were about students going to the...
The Arc of the Day Is Not Just a Schedule, It Is a Stress Plan
The Arc of the Day Matters More Than We Think Picture a kindergarten classroom at 2:00 in the afternoon. Or a middle school hallway right after lunch on a Friday. Or a Grade 3 class in the third week of November. If you have spent time in schools or early childhood...
What Behaviour Is Really Telling Us: A Closer Look at the Five Domains
Think about a student you have found yourself puzzling over. Maybe they shut down mid-task for no apparent reason. Maybe they explode over something that seems tiny. Maybe they are just... unreachable some days, even when everything looks fine on the surface.Self-Reg...
Stillness Spoke Louder
Blog by Self-Reg Learning Facilitator Certificate Program Alumni, Stela Haralala The other day, I was walking by a lake. It was quiet, the sun was low, and the water was still enough to mirror the trees along the edge. I wanted to capture a photo: the light, the...