Behavioral Regulation, Visual Spatial Maturity in Kindergarten, and the Relationship of School Adaptation in the First Grade for a Sample of Turkish Children

Abstract

Behavioral regulation has recently become an important variable in research looking at kindergarten and first-grade achievement of children in private and public schools. The purpose of this study was to examine a measure of behavioral regulation, the Head Toes Knees Shoulders Task, and to evaluate its relationship with visual spatial maturity at the end of kindergarten. Later, in first grade, teachers were asked to rate the children ( N = 82) in terms of academic and behavioral adaptation. Behavioral regulation and visual spatial maturity were significantly different between the two school types, but ratings by the teachers in the first grade were affected by children’s visual spatial maturity rather than by behavioral regulation. Socioeducational opportunities provided by the two types of schools may be more important to school adaptation than behavioral regulation.