Parents and caregivers are always asking about how to teach and support self-regulation. The reality is that self-regulation is lots of things! In this course we’ll talk about the ways the social mind can support social thinking and self-regulation for early learners. Whether you’re with your child at home, in the community or in their early learning settings, we’ll explore things you can say and do to build their social self-regulation.

• Learn how to use a favorite book to teach about and play with emotions, thoughts, and plans.
• Think and feel out loud, like a “social caster” to model and support attention, interpretation, and problem solving.
• Explore what everyone likes to think about to build awareness of the social world and help choose things you can do together.
• Talk about your “group plan” as part of everyday activities, like making a snack, to help children anticipate what will happen and support their self-regulation.
• Use a strategy, like “look, think, and do,” to help children notice the many plans happening around them.
• Make a plan for more successful and rich play.
• Act out stories to support attention and flexibility.

Objectives

Participants will be able to:

1. Identify two ways to support self-regulation (e.g., drawing attention to what is in the environment, thinking and feeling out loud, etc.).
2. Describe how to use a storybook or everyday activity to talk about key concepts like thoughts, feelings, and plans.

Agenda

22 minutes – What is Social Thinking? (Methodology)
1 hour and 30 minutes – Teaching How the Social World Works, Summary – Building the Social Mind