Tag Archives: social-emotional learning

“selective attention: Picking out the most relevant cue among stimuli in the environment, and excluding the rest. It is well established that people do not pay attention to everything; for example, at a party an individual can focus on the voice of one person with whom he or she is conversing.

Yet while it is clear that people do filter out a great number of stimuli, it is not at all clear how this is done, nor what information is noted unconsciously. In an attempt to find out, psychologist have often used dichotic listening experiments (that is, two different messages are presented separately to each ear), roughly along the lines of the situation at a party.

If a child’s ‘attention’ problems are selective—that is, appearing only in certain subjects—it suggests that he or she is capable of paying attention when the subjects are comprehensible and meaningful.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

“self-regulation: The ability to regulate and monitor a person’s own actions and behavior. Problems with effective self-regulation are a primary struggle for students with attention and executive function problems.

Effective self-regulation depends on a complex interaction of thinking, feeling, and perception.

Problems with self-regulation may stem from many different sources. Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder typically have problems with self-regulation due to underlying brain processing difficulties with memory, attention, and executive function, particularly as these affect the ability to control impulses and restrain and monitor internal thoughts. Problems with self-regulation also may be caused by other psychological conditions, such as bipolar disorder, conduct disorders, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Development of more effective ways to self-regulate is part of an effective coaching and strategy development program for individuals with ADHD. In general, while self-regulation may be seen as an underlying brain function, it is also learned behavior. Therefore, it is possible to teach individuals how to change patterns of impulsive and reckless behavior.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.