The speech-language pathologist's role in supporting the development of self-regulation: A review and tutorial

Abstract

Purpose: Children's engagement in self-regulation is a strong and positive predictor of their social and academic success, making self-regulation an important focus for caregivers and clinicians. The aims of this article are to provide a framework for understanding self-regulation and to identify strategies speech-language pathologists can use to integrate self-regulation work into their clinical practice.

Method: Empirically supported considerations describing the developmental progression from co-regulation to self-regulation are outlined, and the effects of stress on self-regulation are discussed. A clinical framework is provided to guide speech-language pathologists in considering stress and self-regulation in their clinical work. Strategies are provided to a) support speech-language pathologists' employment of co-regulation as a method for mitigating the negative effects that stress can have on therapeutic efforts, and to b) support children's development of skills (i.e. executive functions, metacognition) required to actively self-regulate.

Conclusion: Given that children's ability to attain a state of regulation is integral to attending, engaging, and learning from their environment, the information provided in this tutorial can be used to inform and enhance current clinical practice.

Keywords: Co-regulation; Executive functions; Language acquisition; Language development; Language therapy; Metacognition; Preschool; School-age; Self-regulation; Speech therapy; Speech-language pathologist; Speech-language therapist; Stress in children.