Co-Regulation as the Path to Self-Regulation, by Dr. Donna Housman and Emily Stone

You do not need to check your newsfeed to see what the implications of the stress, uncertainty, disruption, isolation, trauma, and loss of the past two and half years have been - you just need to walk into your own classroom.

Long before the pandemic and social and global unrest, we were seeing a dramatic rise in children’s stress, anxiety, and dysregulated behavior heading straight for a mental health crisis. This unprecedented time has exacerbated that situation exponentially. In fact, all the leading health organizations have declared a national state of emergency on children’s mental health.

For the past three years, our littlest learners have experienced disruptions to the critical social and emotional learning opportunities they need. Now it is time to double down on your role to support children in the development to be aware of, manage and regulate emotions to deal effectively with stress and anxiety. You can intentionally help children develop self-regulation, not only to manage big emotions but also better regulate their behavior, thinking and learning.

This important webinar will focus on the role you play as a key socializer play in a child’s development of self-regulation and the impact co-regulation has in the classroom. You will learn how to flip the switch to provide children, and ourselves, with the skills we need to move forward. You will explore the process known as co-regulation and how you can develop the positive supportive responsive relationships children need to develop self-regulation. Child psychologist and early education expert, Dr. Housman, and early childhood educator Emily Stone will guide you to:

• Understand the foundational need for positive responsive relationships in the early years

• Explore the role co-regulation plays in the development of self-regulation

• Understand what co-regulation is and how we can put this into practice each day

• Discover how co-regulation helps children take ownership of their ability to self-regulate their emotions and become and be the boss of their feelings, and through the process develop self-control and empathy.

• Learn how we can use those “meltdown moments” to lay the critical foundation of emotional intelligence

• Understand the impact self-regulation has on learning, behavior, and empathy