Nov 21, 2014 06:00 PM EST By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

An intervention that uses music and games to help preschoolers learn self-regulation skills is also helping prepare at-risk children for kindergarten, according to a recent study from Oregon State University.

Self-regulation skills help children pay attention, follow directions, stay on task and persist through difficulty. They are critical to a child's success in kindergarten and beyond.

"Most children do just fine in the transition to kindergarten, but 20 to 25 percent of them experience difficulties -- those difficulties have a lot to do with self-regulation," Megan McClelland, a nationally recognized expert in child development and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. "Any intervention you can develop to make that transition easier can be beneficial."

For the study, researchers collected data from 276 children enrolled in a federally funded Head Start program for at-risk children in the Pacific Northwest. Children ranged in age from three to five, with most about four years old.

The intervention ran for eight weeks, with two 20- to 30-minute sessions each week. Research assistants came into classes and led children through movement and music-based games that increased in complexity over time and encouraged the children to practice self-regulation skills.

Researchers evaluated children's self-regulation and academic achievement before and after the intervention and found that children who had received the intervention scored significantly higher on two direct measures of self-regulation. English language learners who participated in the intervention also scored significantly higher in math than their peers in the control group.

The intervention was most effective among children who are considered at highest risk for struggling in school -- those from low-income backgrounds who are learning English as a second language. In addition to a positive effect on self-regulation, the intervention had a positive effect on math achievement for English language learners.

"The math gain was huge," McClelland said. "English language learners who were randomly assigned to the intervention showed a one-year gain in six months. This was in spite of the fact that we had no math content in these games."

The findings indicate that children were more likely to integrate the self-regulation skills they've learned into their everyday lives. It also supports previous research finding strong links between self-regulation and math skills.

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