Building Executive Function and Self-Regulation in Preschool

This action research was inspired by the researcher’s interest in building executive function skills in preschool aged children and the effects this would have on incidents of dysregulated behaviors in the classroom. After completing a baseline measurement of the participant’s current level of executive function skills, the researcher implemented interventions designed to strengthen these skills. Interventions included providing teacher support in creating play plans during dramatic play, providing a choice board of game options during recesses, teaching mindfulness yoga relaxation techniques, and embedding practices include scaffolding, activating prior knowledge, providing think time, adding pair-share during large group discussions, preteaching vocabulary, and modeling metacognition during problem solving. The researcher also recorded the number of incidents of dysregulated behavior each day. The researcher is entering her third year as an early childhood special education teacher in the public school system. The findings reveal both an increase in executive function skills and a decrease in incidents of dysregulated behavior. This research was conducted to impact the researcher’s future classroom best practices