1. Building Adaptive Skills in the Preschool Years:
Partnering with Parents and Teachers
Name
Course Name/Course Number
Instructor
Date

2. Self-Help Skills
Gradually develop as children mature and become more independent
Include basic skills such as hygiene, dressing, and caring for themselves
Require modeling, assistance, and practice to master
Home self-help skills include
Potty
Dressing self
Taking out and putting away items
Classroom self-help skills frequently transfer from the home
Self-help skills are those skills which are developed gradually as children mature and independence emerges. With modeling, assistance, and practice, they become able to take care of needs such as hygiene, dressing, and simple feeding tasks (Hatter, 2015). Self-help skills for 3 through 5 year-olds begins to grow quite expansive around age three. Each year’s skills build on the year prior, adding new skills to those that came before. Skills for the home include potty skills, being able to dress oneself with a moderate amount of help on snaps and buttons, and being able to take out and put away needed items. Classroom self-help skills are transferable from these home skills, with children being able to handle their basic needs with a more minimal amount of attention from the teacher as caregiver (Brill, 2012).

3. Strategies for Teaching Self-Help Skills
ONE: Sharing Classroom Responsibilities
Allow children to self-serve snack
Encourage clean-up afterwards, even if imperfect
Teaches skill that can be practiced frequently throughout the day
One possible strategy for teaching self-help skill to children is through having the share in snack time responsibilities. This can include serving their own snack and cleaning up after themselves afterward. This strategy teaches them a skill that can be practiced at different times of the day, with other meals as well as snack (Stewart, 2013).

4. Strategies for Teaching Self-Help Skills
TWO: Building Classroom Routines
Morning routines of hanging up coat and backpack
Lunchtime routine of washing hands before eating
Encourages and reminds children to conduct tasks and care for their belongings
A second strategy is having routines built into the day that encourage and remind children to care for their belongings. An example would be a morning routine that asks children to hang their coats and backpacks on a hook, and set their lunchboxes on their cubby shelf. This skill helps children understand the value of tidiness, and the concept of everything having a place (Stewart, 2013).

5. Strategies for Teaching Self-Help Skills
THREE: Cleaning and Organizing Times
Have children clean their activities and toys at transitional times
Organize in bins and trays
Helps children understand concepts of order and organization
A third strategy might be to have children clean up their toys at different transitional times during the day, organizing them in bins as they do so. This skill, like the routine of placing their belongings in their cubbies each morning, helps children understand the concept of order and organization (Stewart, 2013).

6. Helping Parents Reinforce Self-Help Skills at Home
Parents Can Help! Ask child to help…
Set the table before meals
Clear the table after the evening meal
Have child remove shoes and coat each day and place in specific location
Remind child to straighten play area when finished playing, or at specific times each day
Parents can extend self-help skills at home to reinforce the desired capabilities in their children. They can ask their children to assist with setting the table, for example, and clearing after the evening meal. Parents can extend the second strategy by having their children routinely remove their shoes and coat each day when they arrive home after preschool, and set them in a specific location. Parents can also utilize the third self-help strategy by inviting their child to clean up their toys at specific times during the day, and have different organizational bins that help them keep them compartmentalized (Stewart, 2013).

7. Parent Resources for Self-Help Skills
The Positive Parenting Connection
Web-based resource
Geared toward positive parenting and discipline
Full of tips and ideas, classes and coaching on how to help children learn self-help skills and many other things
The Positive Parenting Connection is a web-based resource that is chock-full of tips and ideas to help parents extend their learning, both in assisting their child with self-help skills and with a multitude of other areas, as well. The site is geared, as the name suggests, toward parenting with an emphasis on positive discipline rather than “punishment,” per se. It offers classes and coaching, plus a positive parenting team that offers advice when requested (Brill, 2012).

8. Prosocial Skills
Any kind of behavior intended to benefit another individual.
Vital skills for both home, classroom, and on a larger scale, the world in which we live.
Prosocial skills help children learn social competence.
Social competence helps individuals:
Be accepted by peers
Achieve academically
Succeed in careers
Prosocial behavior is “any voluntary behavior intended to benefit another person. Examples include inviting, sharing, helping, cooperating, compromising, respecting others, complimenting, comforting another and hugging” (Pick, 2015). Such skills are vital for both home and the classroom as they help children learn social competence. Social competence, in turn, helps children be accepted by their peers, achieve stronger in the academic arena, and succeed in their careers (Elksnin, 2000).

9. Strategies for Teaching Prosocial Skills
ONE: Sharing Acts
*Prosocial skills can be categorized according to sharing, helping, and cooperating acts.
Encourage play situations that elevate sharing.
Build the process by questioning and guiding children in exploring and labeling their feelings.
Help children make the appropriate choices.
Prosocial behaviors can be categorized according to sharing, helping, and cooperating acts. One strategy for teaching prosocial behavior to three to five year olds in the classroom is to have children navigate play situations with others that involve acts of sharing. Teachers can build the process by asking questions that guide children in exploring their feelings, labeling the feelings that children are feeling and expressing during their play, and helping the children make appropriate choices (Preusse, 2008).

10. Strategies for Teaching Prosocial Skills
TWO: Helping Acts
*Prosocial skills can be categorized according to sharing, helping, and cooperating acts.
Help children help others.
Plan activities that promote for and allow for a servant role for those in the classroom, so teachers can model and children can mimic.
Have children bring materials to the table or center area, or put them away when finished.
Have children be “helpers” in different center areas on a rotational basis.
A second strategy involves helping children help others. There are abundant opportunities for doing so in the classroom, with peers, teachers, and others present. The teacher can plan activities that promote and allow for a serving role for the child, such as bringing materials to the table or center area, putting them away when finished, or being a “helper” during a particular task (Preusse, 2008).

11. Strategies for Teaching Prosocial Skills
THREE: Cooperating Acts
*Prosocial skills can be categorized according to sharing, helping, and cooperating acts.
Help children work cooperatively with others.
Plan activities that promote cooperation rather than competition.
Plan games than emphasize cooperation and conflict resolution.
Have children work together to set up classroom spaces for various activities, such as fort building or art time.
A third strategy involves assisting children in cooperative acts. This can be done by involving children in play that emphasizes cooperation rather than competition, games that emphasize cooperation and conflict resolution, and even cooperative work to set up classroom spaces for various activities (Preusse, 2008).

12. Helping Parents Reinforce Prosocial Skills at Home
Parents Can Help! Work on…
Reinforcing specific prosocial behaviors the teacher identifies each week (i.e., sharing) through incidental teaching and reinforcement.
Using emotional coaching
Look for opportunities to make your child aware of his/her emotions
Using social autopsies
Discuss what happened, what the child did, and what might have happened differently
There are several strategies teachers can use to help parents reinforce prosocial behavior at home. They can ask parents, first, to reinforce specific prosocial behaviors through incidental teaching and reinforcement. They can use emotional coaching, in which they look for opportunities to help their child be aware of their emotions, talk about them, and figure out how acting differently might lead to different emotions. Finally, they can utilize social autopsies, which involves discussing what the child did, what happened when the child did it, the direction of the outcome (i.e., was it positive, negative, or neutral?), and what the child might do next time to promote a different outcome (Elksnin, 2000).

13. Parent Resources for Prosocial Skills
The Global Post Book Review
Web-based resource
Identifies children’s books on prosocial behavior and skills
Reviewed and categorized according to approximate age level and genre
A web-based resource that would be particularly helpful for parents is the Global Post review of books on prosocial behavior. This website is dedicated specifically to books just for children, with books reviewed and categorized according to approximate age level and form (i.e., “lots of pictures,” “lots of text,” fiction and nonfiction). It describes several books concisely and provides details for why certain books would or would not be good choices for read-alouds (Pick, 2015).

14. Self-Regulation Skills
A child’s ability to control and direct how they feel, think, and act.
A child can self-regulate in the classroom by raising her hand.
A child can self-regulate at home by taking a time out.
Self-regulation helps children make better choices and ultimately fare better socially and academically.
Self-regulation is a child’s ability to control and/or direct how they feel, think, and act. A child can self-regulate in the classroom or at home by raising his hand to ask a question or by taking a deep breath to control anger, respectively. “Self-regulation underlies our daily decisions and long-term behavioral tendencies,” Ponitz says. “When people make poor choices - for example about health, school, work, or relationships, it is usually because of a failure of self-regulation. With regard to early development, children who learn to control themselves and make good choices do better socially and academically than children who are overly angry, aggressive or impulsive” (Hoffman, 2010).

15. Strategies for Teaching Self-Regulation Skills
ONE: Red Light, Green Light
Children learn to pay attention, follow directions, and wait their turn.
One child is the “stoplight”
Other children are the “cars”
Stoplight calls either “red light” (meaning STOP) or “green light” (meaning GO)
Children must quickly respond accordingly or have to go back to the starting line.
One strategy for teaching self-regulation is a game of Red Light, Green Light. This game promotes self-regulation because children learn to pay attention, follow directions, and wait their turn. One child is the stoplight, while the other children are the cars. When the stoplight calls for a green light, the cars run toward the stoplight. When the light “turns red,” all of the cars must stop. Any child that does not stop must return to the starting line (Hoffman, 2010).

16. Strategies for Teaching Self-Regulation Skills
TWO: Simon Says
Similar to Red Light, Green Light.
Children also learn to pay attention and follow directions.
One child is the “Simon.” Simon must call out directions, but must preface each with a “Simon Says” in order for them to be obeyed.
Other children must obey Simon if he says “Simon Says.” If he does not use the magic words, and they obey anyway, they are out.
A second strategy for teaching self-regulation is a game of Simon Says. In this game, one child is Simon. When Simon says “Simon says—” followed by a directive such as “jump” or “walk forward,” the children must follow the directions. If Simon only says “jump” or “walk,” however, the children must do nothing. If somebody fails to listen carefully, they must sit out for the remainder of the game. This is another great game for encouraging close listening and following directions (Hoffman, 2010).

17. Strategies for Teaching Self-Regulation Skills
THREE: Hide and Seek
One child is “It,” who must count and wait for others to hide before going to find them.
Other children hide in a brief allotted time.
The first child found becomes the next “It.”
The children hiding must discipline themselves to find a hiding spot quickly, and remain in that spot quietly, until they are found.
“It” must show the same discipline to count slowly and evenly and not peek.
A third strategy for teaching self-regulation is a game of hide and seek. In this game, one person (“It”) is elected to count to a certain number while the other children run away and hide. When the counter is finished, It must find the others. The first player found then becomes the next It. This teaches self-regulation because the children hiding must discipline themselves to discover a hiding place quickly and efficiently, and then remain in that spot quietly, without moving, until they are found. The counter must exhibit the same discipline to keep himself from peeking and to count slowly and evenly until time is up (Hoffman, 2010).

18. Helping Parents Reinforce Self-Regulation Skills at Home
Parents Can Help! Remember…
Simple games are more than just games.
Use increasingly complex sets of directions to activate self- regulation.
Conduct games at different times of the day, such as dinner time or bedtime preparations.
Parents can use similar self-regulation strategies at home. Parents can be reminded that games such as these are actually much more than simple games. They are activities that promote conscious states of self-regulation, and as such, parents can choose to consciously activate that in their young ones through use of different, increasingly complex directions, and games conducted at different times of the day, such as during dinner or bedtime preparations (Hoffman, 2010).

19. Parent Resources for Self-Regulation Skills
Romp ‘n Roll
Community resource
Physical, mental, musical exercise and discipline for children
Offers excellent opportunities for reinforcing self-regulation strategies while children work in teams and individually on things that require listening, responding, and stop and go skills
Romp ‘n Roll is an excellent community resource that parents will discover offers great opportunities for reinforcing self-regulation strategies after preschool. In the three to five year-old classes offered by Romp n’ Roll gyms, children are directed in team activities, relay games that require stop and go skills, and other active participation that fosters self-control and nurtures fun at the same time (Romp 'n Roll, LLC, 2015).

20. References
Brill, A. (2012, June 13). Giant list of self-care skills for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Retrieved from preschoolers/
Elksnin, L. (2000). Teaching parents to teach their children to be prosocial. Intervention in School and Clinic, 36(1). Retrieved from
Hatter, K. (2015). How to teach children self-help skills. Retrieved from
Hoffman, T. (2010, April 28). Self-regulation: The key to successful students. Retrieved from
Pick, J. (2015). Books for kids on prosocial behavior. Retrieved from
Preusse, K. (2008). Fostering prosocial behavior in young children. Retrieved from
Romp 'n Roll, LLC. (2015). Romp 'n Roll. Retrieved from
Stewart, D. (2013, November 20). Promoting life skills in the preschool classroom. Retrieved from