The Road of Self-Regulation Training

Children with ADHD need to learn how to control their thoughts, emotions and behavior.

Self-regulation is your child’s “ability to regulate emotions and to persist with goals in the face of distractions.” Posner, 2009.  Children’s ability to control their thoughts, emotions and behavior is central to success in school and life. 

Good self-regulation skills are associated with better grades, good social skills, more empathy and fewer negative emotions. Poor self-control skills are associated with more aggression and behavior problems.

Children need to learn to how to inhibit responses, shift attention, stay focused, achieve goals and control themselves better under conflict. The scientific name for what we call self-control is “self-regulation.” It is a term many parents will come come to know, understand and value. Find out if your child has problems with Self-Regulation. Assesments

Will: A Self-Regulation Success Story

Will’s mother described her 12 year old 6^th grader as “… a gifted, innovative, out-of the-box thinker and creative writer with skills in art and music. Her worries concerned his many attention deficits and poor organizational skills.

A major issue was poor self-regulation due to stress and anxiety. Will began self-regulation training to gain emotional control as part of the 5 Safe Roads Program. 5 Roads Training Learning to relax with the help of a computerized “Coherence Coach” and consistent training, he began to make positive, healthy emotional shifts using slow, deep breathing and a visualization exercise. 

Will’s attention skills were strengthened with attention-building and working memory exercises on the computer. Executive function skill training helped him improve abilities to organize, plan, prioritize and complete tasks. His 5 Roads program included creativity projects in art, science and video production and editing.

Will soon started self-control training at home, which helped him improve behavior, attitude and mood. His grades in advanced Placement classes improved and he was progressing in music performance in school.

His Science Fair Project was chosen best in his school and county and Will went to the State Finals, placing  6th in the state.

Quote from the Expert: Dr. Sam Goldstein, Professor of Psychiatry

“Children with a diagnosis of ADHD possess the self-regulation or self-control of children approximately two-thirds of their chronological age. It’s not that their self-control isn’t developing, but that it’s developing at a much slower pace.”

Self Regulation is part of the 5 Safe Roads Program

Recent Research

1) Good self-regulation skills are associated with more success in kindergarten and better grades in middle and higher school. Children with strong self-regulation abilities have good social skills, more empathy and fewer negative emotions than children with poor self-control skills. Children with poor self-regulation skills are more likely to be aggressive and have more behavior problems.

Rothbart, M.K., Posner, M.I., Rueda, M.R., Sheese, B.E., & Yang, Y-Y.(2009)Enhancing self regulation in school and clinic. In D. Cicchetti & M.R. Gunnar,eds. Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology Vol. 35: Meeting the Challenge of Translational Research in Child Psychology. Hoboken N.J.: John Wiley pp. 115-158.

2) Attention training trains executive attention networks and transfers to other cognitive skills. Attention state training produces changes in the mind-body state and involves the autonomic nervous system. The training transfers to improve a child’s cognition, emotions and social behaviors. (Tang Yi-Yuan and Posner, Michael I. (2009). Attention training and attention state training. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Vol 13. No. 5), pp. 222-227)