A Child s Life Self Regulatory Skills - 1314 Words

The first eight years of a child’s life self-regulatory skills are developing that involve cognitive, behavioral, and sometimes emotional processes. The developing skills, during that time, have a large impact on a child’s natural tendencies and their social setting. In recent studies self-regulatory skills have proven to have a large effect on student achievement, social interactions, and less behavioral issues. One aspect that helps develop self-regulatory skills is autonomy support. This is a specific kind of support given to children from adults that have an impact on their daily lives. Definition/Explanation of Theory and Behavior (about 1 page) â€Å"Self-regulatory skills refer to children’s ability to focus their attention, manage†¦show more content†¦Autonomy support, defined as parents’ use of practices that support and encourage independent problem solving, choice, and participation in decisions, has been contrasted with parenting styles that involve punitive and coercive approaches to discipline; children of parents who offered more autonomy support showed greater self-regulation than children of punitive and coercive parents (Grolnick and Ryan, 1989, p.307). Autonomy support can be practiced with children not only by their parents but also teachers, coaches, and other adults who play a significant role in a child’s life. Having less controlling practices when interacting with a child or student will motivate them to express themselves, make decisions on their own, be more independent, and interact better with other children or students. People having strong abilities such as these will benefit a person not only in the classroom but also when being an adult. Positive Aspects of the Theory Related to the Behavior (1 to 2 pages) Students who have obtained strongly self-regulatory skills have been linked to having a higher level of academic achievement. â€Å"Children who show better self-regulation upon kindergarten entry demonstrated higher mathematics, vocabulary, and early literacy skills in the spring of the kindergarten year† (Ponitz, McClelland, Matthres, and Morrison, 2009). Children’s whose parents provide autonomy support throughout their childhood are said to have a higher academic