Facilitating Emotional Self-Regulation in Preschool Children

Facilitating Emotional Self-Regulation in Preschool Children: Efficacy of the Early HeartSmarts Program in Promoting Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Development

An e-booklet (Research Study) by Raymond Trevor Bradley, PhD., Mike Atkinson, Dana Tomasino, Robert A. Rees, PhD.

Giving Young Children a Great Start
“Of the key socio-emotional competencies in early childhood that lay the foundation for future development and the potentials for adult psychosocial growth, well-being and accomplishment, emotional self-regulation is core,” this important educational e-book explains. Facilitating Emotional Self-Regulation in Preschool Children is the culmination of a highly successful HeartMath Early HeartSmarts® (EHS) study and pilot program provided in 19 preschools within the Salt Lake City School District. Children as young as age 3 learned, practiced and retained socio-emotional skills taught in the program.

This e-booklet details the “compelling evidence” researchers found that EHS for ages 3-6 enhanced the children’s growth in four key development areas: social/emotional, physical, cognitive and language. The authors lay out the study’s step-by-step methodology and researchers’ findings and conclusions. It includes discussions on the scientific basis of EHS; the start of emotional self-regulation in the first 18 months of infancy; the critical link between the heart and human emotions; the benefits of psychophysiological coherence and positive emotions; and a description of how the Early HeartSmarts program is organized.

Discussion Topics

• Emotional Regulation in Early Childhood
• Psychophysiology of Emotional Regulation
• Role of the Heart in Emotional Experience
• Emotions Are Reflected in the Heart’s Rhythms
• Psychophysiological Coherence – A State of Optimal Function
• Intentional Generation of Psychophysiological CoherenceEarly HeartSmarts Program

Tables and Graphics

• A Model of the Influence of Emotion on Cognition
• Heart rhythm patterns reflect different emotional states
• Heart activity affects brain function
• Shift to Coherence
• Synopsis of the Early HeartSmarts Program
• The Creative Curriculum Assessment: Primary Dimensions, Subcomponents, and Measurement Items