How Do Children Describe Learning Self-Regulation Skills in the Kids’ Skills Intervention?

Abstract

In this chapter, 26 Finnish children between 4 and 4 years old described how they learned self-regulation skills after participating in the Kids’ Skills programme in an early childhood education (ECE) setting. Kids’ Skills is a programme aimed at developing children’s self-regulation skills in a solution-focused and narrative way (Furman, Muksuopin lumous. Luova tapa valita lapsia voittaa psyykkiset ongelmat. [The enchantment of the Kids’ Skills. A creative way to choose children to overcome mental problems]. Lyhytterapiainstituutti, 2016). The participating children were diagnosed as having difficulties in their self-regulation. Following the Kids’ Skills intervention, the children described their learning in the form of narratives and drawings. The data were analysed using a thematic content analysis framed by Hicks’ (Contextual inquires: a discourse-oriented study of classroom learning. In: D. Hicks (ed) Discourse, learning and schooling (pp 104–141). Cambridge University Press, 1996) sociocultural model. The findings show how the children described how learning self-regulation skills created new opportunities to have playmates. The children described learning as regulating their behaviour so that their previous challenging behaviour could turn into a strength, such as their bullying behaviour turning into friendship. In addition, the children described a change in their group membership when they were accepted to participate in joint action, and they learned to express themselves more courageously. The results indicate that learning self-regulation skills is relevant to the child, and interventions to promote the child’s self-regulation skills are recommended.