Adaption and implementation of the ENGAGE programme: teaching self-regulation through play within the early childhood curriculm

The ENGAGE(Enhancing Neurobehavioural Gains with the Aid of Games and Exercise) programme was administered to preschol children within their early childhood education center. ENGAGE is a play-based intervention. The programme focuses on skill building by identifying areas of development, selecting games that utilise the target skills, and then systematically playing the games at increasingly challenging levels. Games are focused on the three areas of self-regulation (emotional regulation, cognitive regulation, and behavioural regulation). The focus of ENGAGE is on playing games that target the skills being developed, the games played are not prescribed although some examples are provided (e.g., puzzles, balls games, memory games, inhibitory games). Participanting centres were recruited by the Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA) who made face-to-face contact with all participating centres’ teachers to provide them with the broad research aims and programme information prior to them consenting to participate. All participating centres underwent a 10-week wait-list control period where pre-post teacher ratings of children's self-regulation were collected to ascertain the degree to which self-regulaton scores change over this time period when participating in the early childhood education curriculum as usual. Shortly before beginning the 10-week active ENGAGE intervention period of the study, teachers attended a 2 hour long training workshop run by accredited ENGAGE trainers who were also trained ECE teachers and support workers. Teachers were also provided with a programme manual outlining the programme philosophy, as well as step by step implementation information and lists of games to try. Teachers were asked to read through the relevent section in the manual each week before beginning the new week of games. There were new game ideas available for each of the first 5 weeks of the programme. After this, teachers could reuse any of the suggested games as well as any of their own games. Teachers were encouraged to introduce any other games that they knew and that involved the targeted skills (i.e., emotional, behavioural, and/or cognitive regulation). The intervention involved teachers spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day exposing children to ENGAGE activities within a group format. Games were typically played at set times (often during morning or afternoon mat times). Some games were played within larger groups (e.g., 15 children) and some in smaller groups (e.g., 3-5 children), depending on the types of games being played. The games were typically run by 1 or 2 teachers at a time. Once the intervention began the centres received regular check-in visits by the ENGAGE trainers/facilitators throughout the 10-week period, enabling frequent trouble shooting and discussion of any concerns.