Stephanie Jones, PhD (Gerald S. Lesser Professor of Child Development and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education) discusses three key areas of self-regulation skills developed in early childhood—academic, emotional and social—at the #AskTheExperts webinar “Early Childhood Mental Health and Digital Media” on May 1, 2024.
Read the Video Transcript
[Dr. Stephanie Jones] We know from research in human development from many, many decades that executive function and self-regulation are really essential skills that develop rapidly in that early childhood period. And they set the stage for all kinds of other things that are important to us and important to human development. So things like transitioning, planning, organizing, engaging in focused and directed learning, building a set of academic behaviors and work habits. That’s one lane. Another lane is the emotional lane. So those executive functions and self-regulation support emotion, knowledge, and expression; emotion and behavior regulation; and more sophisticated things like empathy and perspective-taking. And then in the social lane, we have things like prosocial behavior and cooperation, being able to attend to and understand social cues in the world. And then the more sophisticated skills like conflict resolution and problem solving. So those regulatory skills at the beginning are foundational to all of those other things.
View the full webinar
Early Childhood Mental Health and Digital Media
How does digital media use affect early child development and mental health? How should care providers approach technology use in order to protect and promote mental health in young children (ages 0-5)?
Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH
Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children’s Research Institute; Chief Science Officer, Children and Screens
Gilbert Foley, EdD
Consulting Clinical Psychologist, New York Center for Child Development; Clinical Co- Director, NYC Early Childhood Mental Health Training and Technical Assistance Center
Stephanie Jones, PhD
Gerald S. Lesser Professor of Child Development and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Lisa Linder, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Professor of Child and Family Development, San Diego State University
Joan Luby, MD
Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine
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