children

Article
A Pilot Study of Improving Self-Regulation and Social
Interaction with Peers: An “Exciting School”
Dulce Romero-Ayuso 1,2,3, * , Beatriz Espinosa-García 1 , Elena Gómez-Marín 1 , Nicolás Gómez-Jara 1 ,
Claudia Cuevas-Delgado 1 , Irene Álvarez-Benítez 1 and José-Matías Triviño-Juárez 4

1 Department of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy Division, Faculty of Health Sciences,

University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain; jbeatrizesp13@correo.ugr.es (B.E.-G.);
gomezmarinelena@gmail.com (E.G.-M.); nicolasgomez@correo.ugr.es (N.G.-J.);
claudiacuevas@correo.ugr.es (C.C.-D.); reneeab97@gmail.com (I.Á.-B.)
2 Brain, Mind and Behaviour Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus Universitario de
Cartuja S.N., 18011 Granada, Spain
3 Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs. GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain
4 Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain;
jmtjuarez@ugr.es
* Correspondence: dulceromero@ugr.es

Abstract: Social interaction skills are related to successful academic performance and mental health.
One of the key elements of socio-emotional competence is self-regulation. The main aim of this
study was to analyze the effect of a self-regulation program at a primary school on the social
interactions of neurotypical children and children with special educational needs, from the teachers’
and parents’ perspectives. A pre-post study was conducted. The children (n = 107) followed
10 sessions, each one of 50 min, for ten weeks, between January and April 2021. To assess the changes
in children’s social interaction, the Peer Social Maturity Scale was administered to the teachers. After
Citation: Romero-Ayuso, D.; the intervention, parents completed a questionnaire designed ad hoc to understand the effectiveness
Espinosa-García, B.; Gómez-Marín, E.; of children’s emotional self-regulation. The results showed a statistically significant improvement
Gómez-Jara, N.; Cuevas-Delgado, C.; in peer interaction skills. The families were satisfied with the program, due to the improvement in
Álvarez-Benítez, I.; Triviño-Juárez, their children’s knowledge about their own emotions and those of the other people, and the learning
J.-M. A Pilot Study of Improving strategies to regulate their emotions. Likewise, parents indicated that it would be necessary to
Self-Regulation and Social Interaction complement the program with teaching and emotional regulation strategies for them. The “Exciting
with Peers: An “Exciting School”. School” program could help improve the social skills of school-aged children.
Children 2022, 9, 829. https://
doi.org/10.3390/children9060829
Keywords: social skills; occupational therapy; school; children; self-regulation
Academic Editor: Benedetto Vitiello

Received: 5 April 2022

Accepted: 30 May 2022
1. Introduction
Published: 3 June 2022
There is an increasing interest in the development of school-based programs to im-
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
prove social-emotional skills in childhood. Socio-emotional skills are understood as those
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
that allow people to express, understand and regulate their thoughts, emotions, and
published maps and institutional affil-
behaviors in everyday situations and interactions with others, and adapt to changing
iations.
conditions [1]. An adequate social adjustment requires understanding and emotional
regulation [2]. Children can identify emotions and understand their causes around the
age of nine, although only 60% of children at that age understand that emotions can
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
be regulated [3].
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Children with high socio-emotional competence have better social skills, more stable
This article is an open access article relationships, and better problem-solving skills. This is linked to better concentration, which
distributed under the terms and affects their academic success [4] and learning [5,6]. However, few educational programs
conditions of the Creative Commons include formal or explicit training on emotional education within the curriculum [7].
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// This shortfall has been pointed out by different authors who are planning the specific
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ programs to incorporate in schools [3,8], and this topic has been recognized as a challenge
4.0/). for occupational therapy in the school setting [9].

Children 2022, 9, 829. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9060829 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/children

Children 2022, 9, 829 2 of 11

In this sense, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL;
https://casel.org/ accessed on 21 January 2022) promotes the adoption of policies, stan-
dards, and guidelines for the incorporation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in
schools [1]. CASEL defines five types of competencies for social and emotional learning
that can be developed throughout life: (1) Self-awareness: the ability to identify one’s
own emotions and values and understand how they guide behavior; (2) Self-regulation:
the ability to control and modulate emotional expressions (positive or negative) and to
interact with others in an increasingly complex way according to social rules, adapt to
emotionally challenging situations, and inhibit inappropriate behaviors; (3) Social aware-
ness: understanding social norms of behavior and being able to adopt perspectives and
empathize with others; (4) Social skills: the ability to be a good listener, cooperate with oth-
ers and resist negative social pressure; (5) Socio-emotional autonomy: being able to make
constructive decisions about behavior based on social norms and ethical standards [10].
It is important that throughout the school years, children receive the necessary support to
promote development [11]. As a consequence, different programs have been developed that
include executive functions, effortful control, and socio-emotional skills, such as Second
Step [5], Incredible Years Therapeutic Dinosaur Programme [12], RULER Program [13], and
Smiling is Fun [14], among others. In Occupational Therapy domains, the Alert Program is
frequently implemented [15], which is focused to help children understand their emotional
states and improve their self-regulation in different activities and contexts. The Alert
Program is one of the best-known self-regulation programs for school-age children, and
it has been implemented in children with developmental disorders and in neurotypical
children, although there is little evidence of its effectiveness [15,16].
Improving the social and emotional well-being of the child population in vulnerable
situations is a priority objective in mental health programs. It has recently been indicated
that between 10 to 20% of the world’s population of children and adolescents have men-
tal health problems, with the main cause of disability emerging at these ages [17]. The
relevance of the development of emotional well-being in the educational field has been
emphasized, considering that schools or educational centers are the ideal contexts to pro-
mote their development from the beginning of formal education to university education, to
improve the quality of life, prevent the onset of mental disorders and improve academic
performance [8,10]. In addition, programs to improve children’s socio-emotional skills in
risk contexts, and behavioral and/or self-regulation problems could prevent subsequent
disorders and promote mental health in childhood [12]. Despite the availability of different
programs, it is noted that a weakness of them is the lack of generalization of skills to
daily living [18] or transferring skills from home to the school setting [12,18]. Despite the
recognized importance of socio-emotional development and self-regulation, in our context,
there are no regular programs implemented in educational centers. Interventions focused
on improving self-regulation are considered transdiagnostic interventions, that promote
mental health and usually are performed by professionals such as occupational therapists,
which can reduce the burden on teachers [17].
Therefore, to the best knowledge of the authors, in our context (Spain), there are no
programs from the Occupational Therapy approaches that try to improve self-regulation in
the school setting. The “Exciting School” program arises from an educational innovation
project developed through the collaboration of teachers and occupational therapists. The
main aim of this study was to analyze the effect of a self-regulation program at a primary
school on the social interactions of children with special educational needs and neurotypical
children from the teachers’ and parents’ perspectives. The study hypothesis was that the
children would improve their social-emotional skills after participating in the program.

2. Materials and Methods

A pre-test and post-test study were conducted with a single group.
Children 2022, 9, 829 3 of 11

2.1. Participants
Participants were children at a public primary education school. To be included, the
children had to have reading and writing skills according to their educational level, aged
between 7 and 10 years old, and with no diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) mod-
erate or severe. The initial sample consisted of 128 children between 7 and 10 years old who
were recruited in coordination with teachers and psychologists, using a non-probabilistic
convenience sampling procedure [17]. Written informed consent was obtained from the
parents prior to the intervention. The final sample included 107 children between 7 and
10 years old (median = 8 years; interquartile range [IQR] = 8–9 years). Of the 107 children,
93.5% (n = 100) were neurotypical and 6.5% (n = 7) were children with special educational
needs that had a neurodevelopmental or learning disorder (Dyslexia; Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD]; ASD; and Specific Language Disorder [SLD]) (Table 1).
The diagnoses of these seven children were based on the reports by clinical psychologists
and neuro-pediatricians provided by the parents to the educational and psychological
orientation team of the school and they had no other comorbidities. Children with special
educational needs had a curriculum adapted by the educational and psychological orien-
tation team according to their skills, which consisted of, for example, being given extra
time to finish their exams, avoiding auditive interferences during instructions, sitting close
to the teacher, an emphasis on organizing and planning skills, receiving speech-language
therapy, etc.

Table 1. Characteristics of children by primary school level (n = 107).

Second n (%) Third n (%) Fourth n (%) Fifth n (%) p Value

Neurotypical (n = 100)
Gender 0.538 *
Boys 13 (59.1%) 17 (41.5%) 11 (50%) 6 (40%)
Girls 9 (40.9 %) 24 (58.5%) 11 (50%) 9 (60%)
Special Educational Needs (n = 7)
Gender 0.084 **
Boys 0 (0%) 3 (100%) 1 (50%) 0 (0%)
Girls 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (50%) 2 (100%)
Disorder 0.358 **
Dyslexia 0 (0%) 2 (4.3%) 1 (4.2%) 0 (0%)
ADHD 0 (0%) 1 (2.1%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
ASD 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (4.2%) 1 (3.8%)
SLD 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (3.8%)
*: Chi-square test; **: Fisher’s exact test; ADHD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; ASD: autism spectrum
disorder; SLD: specific language disorder.

Regarding the characteristics of the sample, there were no differences in the distri-
bution of gender (p = 0.566), special needs (p = 0.084), or disorder (p = 0.358) by primary
school level (Table 1).

2.2. Instruments
The Peer Social Maturity Scale (PSMAT) was used pre- and post-intervention. It is a
questionnaire for teachers that measures the social interaction skills of children and consists
of 7 items. Scores on the PSMAT range from a minimum of 7 (below the score for that age)
to a maximum of 49, so the higher the score the better social interaction skills [19]. The
reliability of the scale is good, with a Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88. This scale is short, which
makes it easy for teachers to complete it.
Likewise, an ad hoc questionnaire was designed for parents that included eight
questions about the perception at home of the effectiveness of the program on the emotional
self-regulation of their children. All questions could be answered with “yes” or “no”. This
questionnaire was answered by 37% (n = 37) of the parents of neurotypical children: Nine
Children 2022, 9, 829 4 of 11

(24.3%) were parents of children in the second year of primary school, sixteen (43.2%) were
parents of children in the third year of primary school, five (13.5%) were parents of children
in the fourth year of primary school, and seven (18.9%) were parents of children in the fifth
year of primary school. Regarding the parents of children with special educational needs,
the questionnaire was answered in all cases (100%, n = 7): Three (42.8%) were parents of
children in the third year of primary school, two (28.6%) were parents of children in the
fourth year of primary school, and two (28.6%) were parents of children in the fifth year of
primary school.

2.3. Procedure
Approval was obtained by the Educational Community and the Ethics Committee of
the University of Granada (code:1018/CEIH/2019; 13 January 2020). The program was part
of a teaching innovation project of the “Parque de las Infantas” public school, of the Junta
de Andalucía. Before starting the intervention, a meeting was held with all the teachers and
the management team of the school to explain the procedure and the role of the teachers
in each session. Likewise, a previous meeting was held with all the parents to explain the
project and the objectives, requesting informed consent for their children to participate. An
assessment session was held one week before the start of the intervention, in which the
teachers filled in a copy of the PSMAT questionnaire corresponding to each student in their
classroom. This procedure was repeated once the intervention had finished.
The “Exciting School” program was based on the concept that regulation involves
behavioral, emotional, and cognitive modulation [20–22] and also on the theoretical frame-
work of emotional education which includes five elements: emotional awareness, emotional
regulation, emotional autonomy, social competencies, and competencies for life and well-
being [7,8]. This program incorporated different activities: role-playing, stories, small
discussion groups, and games designed for the interiorization of socioemotional skills.
All the activities were conducted by occupational therapists, a teacher, and a neuropsy-
chologist. Ten sessions, each one of 50 min, were held for 10 weeks, between January
and April 2021, in the tutorial plan schedule (Table 2). All the teachers responsible for
each classroom remained and participated while the activities were conducted, together
with the occupational therapist. The sessions had the same structure: remembering and
reviewing the contents of the previous session, performing the main activity of the session,
and closing it with an interactive quiz, called Kahoot! which reviewed the knowledge we
had experienced during the session.
Once each session ended, the teacher sent all parents a summary video about the
weekly intervention of no more than 3 min through a WhatsApp group for each course.
In each session, the children were asked to do a weekly task at home according to the
planned objectives, which was useful to consolidate their skills (Table 2). In addition,
the information was included in the school blog so that all parents and teachers could
access it anytime they wanted (https://colegioparquedelasinfantas.blogspot.com/2021/0
4/emociones-ultimas-sesiones.html accessed on 12 May 2021).

Table 2. Summary of “Exciting School” program.

Domain Aims Activities

SESSION 1: The Parcheesi of emotions.
To recognize one’s own simple emotions Kahoot!
To recognize simple interpersonal emotions Homework: The diary of emotions and Body Scanner.
To recognize the causes of emotions SESSION 2: In my neighbor’s shoes.
To acquire and use vocabulary to Kahoot!
Emotional Recognition,
describe emotions Homework: Little Sherlock: Investigating the emotions
Comprehension, and Expression
To recognize own and other complex emotions around me.
To understand the causes of complex emotions SESSION 3: Let’s play: Guess how I feel in my daily
To understand the causes of emotional life.
ambivalence situations Kahoot!
Homework: How I feel, how I do?
Children 2022, 9, 829 5 of 11

Table 2. Cont.

Domain Aims Activities

SESSION 4: Move and keep calm!
Kahoot!
Homework: my sensory world and my calm: The
bottle of calm.
SESSION 5: The traffic light and Spaghetti techniques.
To learn basic sensory strategies for
Kahoot!
self-regulation
Homework: Practice spaghetti with the traffic light in
Emotional Self-regulation To learn complex strategies for self-regulation
my daily life. The diary of anger.
To apply techniques to change the negative
SESSION 6: The tale of the turtle.
emotional state
Kahoot!
Homework: The Turtle Bookmark.
SESSION 7: Collage of coping strategies.
Kahoot!
Homework: What works for me?
SESSION 7: I Liked myself! Positive Self-Talk.
Kahoot!
Homework: Creating my healthy habits roulette!
To promote basic social skills
SESSION 8: The invisible backpack: stones or bubbles?
To demonstrate respect for others
Kahoot!
Emotional Autonomy and Social Skills To increase a positive attitude and
Homework: Practice being nice. How can I help you?
personal self-efficacy
SESSION 9: Use of messages “I feel . . . ” Improving
To enhance self-esteem
our communication.
Kahoot!
Homework: Letter of Thanks.
SESSION 10: The time thief.
To promote occupational balance
Life-skills and Well-Being Kahoot!
To learn skills of management of time
Homework: Occupational balance in my life!

2.4. Data Analysis

To examine data normality, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (if n > 50) or Shapiro -Wilk
test (if n ≤ 50) were used. The normality test of the data showed that they did not follow a
normal distribution. Thus, median and IQR were used for their description. Categorical
data were given as absolute frequencies and percentages. The chi-square test (or Fisher’s
exact test in case of the expected values in any of the cells of the contingency table were
below five) were performed to analyze differences between proportions. To analyze the
pre-post intervention differences, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used. For a better
understanding of the pre-post intervention differences, together with the median and
IQR, mean and standard deviation (SD) have been included in the Results section. The
significance level for all tests was set at p < 0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using
the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (IBM Corp. Released 2012. IBM
SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0, Armonk, NY, USA).

3. Results
3.1. Pre-Post Intervention Differences in PSMAT Scoring in Neurotypical Children
Of the 100 children included in the neurotypical group, two left for other schools,
so the results refer to the remaining 98 children who did complete the study. After the
children participated in the program, statistically significant changes were observed in:
“skills for appropriately standing up for own opinions, needs and rights with peers”,
p < 0.001; “skills for joining new groups of peers, or welcoming a new child into the group”,
p < 0.001; “skills for coping with peers who frustrate or interfere with the group’s goals and
activities”, p < 0.001; “skills for understanding the needs and interests of peers who differ
from the group norm”, p < 0.001; “maturity of the child’s everyday modes of playing with
peers”, p < 0.023; and “PSMAT total score”, p < 0.001 (Table 3).
Children 2022, 9, 829 6 of 11

Table 3. Peer Social Maturity Scale (PSMAT) Items. Pre-post intervention differences in the “Exciting
School” program in neurotypical children and children with special educational needs.

Neurotypical (n = 98) Special Educational Needs (n = 7)

Pre- Post- Pre- Post-
Intervention Intervention Intervention Intervention
Median (IQR) Median (IQR) Median (IQR) Median (IQR)
Z p-Value a Z p-Value a
Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Skills for appropriately
standing up for own 5 (4–6) 5 (4–6) 2 (1–3) 3 (2–4)
−5.21 <0.001 −1.73 0.083
opinions, needs, and 4.63 (1.37) 5.13 (1.25) 2.57 (1.72) 3 (1.63)
rights with peers
Skills for joining new
groups of peers, or 5 (4–6) 5 (4–6) 2 (2–4) 3 (2–5)
−3.71 <0.001 −0.58 0.564
welcoming a new child 4.83 (1.33) 5.23 (1.28) 2.86 (1.68) 3 (1.53)
into the group
Child’s leadership skills 4 (3–6) 5 (4–5) 2(1–3) 2 (1–4)
−1.56 0.119 0 1
with peers 4.39 (1.52) 4.55 (1.39) 2.29 (1.38) 2.43 (1.62)
Skills for coping with
peers who frustrate or 4 (3–6) 5 (4–6) 2 (1–3) 3 (1–3)
−3.57 <0.001 −0.58 0.564
interfere with the group’s 4.49 (1.55) 4.88 (1.36) 2.57 (1.72) 2.43 (1.51)
goals and activities
Skills for understanding
the needs and interests of 4 (3–6) 5 (4–6) 2 (1–3) 3 (1–3)
−3.50 <0.001 −0.58 0.564
peers who differ from the 4.49 (1.49) 4.88 (1.36) 2.57 (1.72) 2.43 (1.51)
group norm
Maturity of the child’s
5 (4–6) 5 (4–6) 3 (2–4) 3 (2–4)
everyday modes of −2.28 0.023 −0.45 0.655
4.98 (1.41) 5.22 (1.34) 3 (1.29) 2.86 (1.35)
playing with peers
The overall maturity of 5 (4–6) 5 (4–6) 3 (2–3) 3 (2–4)
−1.21 0.228 0 1
the child’s social skills 4.85 (1.31) 4.95 (1.27) 2.86 (1.57) 2.86 (1.35)
32 (27–40) 35 (29–42) 17 (13–21) 20 (11–28)
PSMAT total score −4.29 <0.001 −0.11 0.917
32.66 (8.41) 34.85 (8.34) 18.71 (10.37) 19 (9.97)
IQR: interquartile range; SD: standard deviation; a : Wilcoxon signed-rank test; PSMAT: Peer Social Maturity Scale.

3.2. Pre-Postintervention Differences in PSMAT Scoring in Children with Special

Educational Needs
All children with special educational needs (n = 7) completed the study and their
results showed that after the intervention, there were no statistically significant changes
found in any of the items nor the PSMAT total score (Table 3).

3.3. Parents’ Perception of Neurotypical Children of the Effectiveness of the “Exciting School”
Program
A higher proportion of parents reported that the program influenced their children’s
daily lives. Additionally, a higher proportion of children explained to their parents the
self-regulation strategies they learned. Most of the parents indicated that their children
used self-regulation strategies at home after the program. Likewise, most of the children
understood their emotions better and recognized better the emotions of others after the
program. Furthermore, a higher proportion of parents thought that their children had
better self-regulation after the intervention. Parents considered it necessary to learn self-
regulation strategies. Finally, most parents found useful the information provided to them
weekly through the school blog and from the responsible parents and teachers in each
group (Table 4).
Children 2022, 9, 829 7 of 11

Table 4. Parent’s perception of the effectiveness of the “Exciting School” program (n = 44).

Neurotypical (n = 37) Special Educational Needs (n = 7)

n (%) n (%)
Influence of Program in Daily Life
Yes 23 (62.2%) 7 (100%)
No 14 (37.8%) 0 (0%)
Explained strategies of self-regulation to
parents
Yes 33 (89.2%) 6 (85.7%)
No 4 (10.8%) 1 (14.3%)
Use of strategies of self-regulation at
home
Yes 23 (62.2 %) 2 (28.6%)
No 14 (37.8%) 5 (71.4%)
Understand better their emotions after
the program
Yes 34 (91.9%) 4 (57.1%)
No 3 (8.1%) 3 (42.9%)
Better recognition of the emotions of
others
Yes 32 (86.5%) 5 (71.4%)
No 5 (13.5%) 2 (28.6%)
Better emotional self-regulation
Yes 28 (75.7%) 3 (42.9%)
No 9 (24.3%) 4 (57.1%)
Parents think they need a program to
learn self-regulation strategies
Yes 36 (97.3%) 6 (85.7%)
No 1 (2.7%) 1 (14.3%)
Usefulness of information provided
through the school blog
Yes 33 (89.2%) 7 (100%)
No 4 (10.8%) 0 (0%)

3.4. Parents’ Perception of Children with Special Educational Needs of the Effectiveness of the
“Exciting School” Program
All parents thought that the program influenced their children’s daily lives. Most of
the parents reported that their children explained to them the self-regulation strategies
learned. A higher proportion said that their children understood better their own emotions
and recognized more effectively the emotions of others. Almost all parents thought that
they needed to learn self-regulation strategies. All parents found useful the information
we provided them weekly through the school blog and from the responsible parents
and teachers in each group. Less than half of the parents found that their children used
self-regulation strategies at home and that they had better self-regulation (Table 4).

4. Discussion
The main aim of this study was to analyze the effect of a self-regulation program
at a primary school on the social interactions of children with special educational needs
and neurotypical children from the teachers’ and parents’ perspectives. This objective
has become increasingly important in referrals made to occupational therapists in recent
years [23]. In fact, some studies have indicated that children with low social skills showed
difficulties in emotional regulation, and this factor should be considered in interventions
performed by occupational therapists [9].
The preliminary findings of this pilot study have found that emotional self-regulation
skills, assertiveness, empathy, and skills to initiate conversation and social interactions
improved in neurotypical children, but not in children with special educational needs.
According to the CASEL Social-Emotional Learning Framework, neurotypical children
Children 2022, 9, 829 8 of 11

increased emotional self-awareness, self-control, responsible decision-making, social aware-

ness, and social skills [10]. These changes were reported by teachers and parents, which
could suggest that there was a transfer of learning to the family environment. Similar
results have been observed when learning environments provide positive affective rela-
tionships between students and teachers, especially when teachers encourage children to
develop their own opinions, making their learning more meaningful, thus creating inclu-
sive classrooms [13,24–27]. Teachers are privileged observers when assessing children’s
interaction skills [9]. They can help to have a more optimistic view of students, facilitating
the teaching-learning process [26]. Likewise, the results of our program are consistent
with the proposals that suggest that an optimal level of classroom structure and control
allows the development of higher levels of social maturity and independence [11]. One
of the reasons why our program might show positive results is because it includes the
dimensions indicated by other authors for the effectiveness of self-regulation programs
in schools [11,28]. Our program incorporated explicit teaching of self-regulation skills
through activities, mainly with play, that was conducted routinely and organized on a
specific schedule with weekly feedback from occupational therapists. Additionally, the pro-
gram included the SAFE criteria: (S) sequential activities for the development of skills; (A)
active participation of children; (F) focused time for the practice of socio-emotional skills,
and; (E) explicit definition of the skills we developed in each session [11]. Additionally, our
results coincide with other studies with preschoolers that also implement cognitive and
emotional self-regulation in the intervention [28] and indicate that after intervention pro-
grams, emotional understanding and social competence were improved [16,29]. Similar to
our results, other occupational therapy self-regulation programs, such as the Alert program,
have shown improvements in socio-emotional competencies in children between three and
six years old [25] and in adolescents between 12–13 years old [30]. Moreover, developing
emotional autonomy and social skills can help them resolve interpersonal conflicts and
facilitate their participation in the school [9] as shown by the results of the maturity of the
child’s everyday modes of playing with peers in this study.
In the case of children with special educational needs, it is possible that the lack of
significant differences is due to the small number of children in our sample. It could also
be because the strategies used are generic and some of these children need a specific thera-
peutic intervention for the recognition of emotions, social cognition, and putting oneself
in another’s place, etc., due to deficiencies in these surroundings, as occurs in children on
the ASD [31–33]. Likewise, in children with ADHD, difficulties in self-regulation and high
emotional reactivity have been observed. In addition to the strategies used, these children
require more specific therapeutic intervention to improve the cognitive reevaluation of
mood enhancement or the use of distraction [34].
Involving parents in self-regulation improvement programs could improve the effec-
tiveness of the program and the transfer of socioemotional skills to other contexts, such as
the playground or at home. Social-emotional learning programs have greater effects when
families are involved in the program and are part of it. Parents participated in our program
through the school blog, in an informative way, and they were asked for their involvement
with the homework, with the intention that the children could extend what they learned
in each weekly session to daily life [16]. Our results support the recommendations made
to improve self-regulation programs, such as the Alert Program, with the incorporation
of parents in programs focused on socioemotional interventions [16,35]. Regarding the
differences found in the parents’ perception of the effectiveness of the program, it should
be noted that most parents indicated that the intervention had a positive influence on the
children’s daily life. In both groups, parents reported that their children recognized better
their own emotions and the emotions of others. Although both groups positively valued
the information provided by the school blog and through the tutors, they considered that a
workshop for parents would be necessary to improve their children’s self-regulation strate-
gies. These could be explained because parents are concerned about the socio-emotional
development of their children and consider it a topic of interest. It is possible that these
Children 2022, 9, 829 9 of 11

findings may be related to the COVID-19 pandemic, where parents have spent more time
with their children and prioritized emotional well-being over other goals such as academic
achievement [36]. Specifically, it has also been observed that during the COVID-19 period,
parents spent more time helping their children learn. This increase in the presence and
emotional and temporary availability of parents has been related to an increase in chil-
dren of positive emotions, and prosocial behavior and a decrease in externalization and
internalization of disruptive behaviors [36]. Although our study was conducted after the
confinement period of COVID-19, sanitary measures required the use of a mask. This fact
could have influenced the results obtained in the group of children with special educa-
tional needs, by making it more difficult for them to recognize emotions due to the use of
masks [36]. Similar to the information reported by the teachers, parents of children with
special educational needs indicated that they did not use self-regulation strategies at home
in a spontaneous way, and they kept showing a reduced awareness of their own emotions.
These results suggest that although the program has shown positive results, children with
special educational needs could benefit from a more specific therapeutic intervention that
complements the “Exciting school” program.
This study has several limitations. First, the sampling was intentional. Second, due
to this study being a pilot one, it might limit the possibility of formally examining and
interpreting mediation and change mechanisms implicated in the results found. Third,
we did not collect information about the children’s socioeconomic status. It would be
recommended that future studies include this variable to determine its relationship with
the effects of interventions aimed to improve self-regulation in childhood. Fourth, less
than half of the parents of neurotypical children and all the parents of children with special
educational needs answered the questionnaire about satisfaction with the “Exciting School”
program. Therefore, the results might have shown an overestimation of the perception of
the effectiveness of the program because the parents who have responded could be the
most motivated and with higher expectations about the benefits of this intervention.
Our study might contribute to improving the evidence of the presence of occupational
therapy in the school setting through a self-regulation program. Further longitudinal
studies are needed to know the effectiveness of the “Exciting School” program, which
incorporates direct assessments from children allowing us to verify whether it increases
the emotional well-being of the child and makes them more effective in facing problems
and making decisions. Likewise, it would be recommendable for future studies to have a
comparison control group.
The preliminary findings of this study show the usefulness of programs that promote
emotional well-being and socio-emotional skills in the school context, from an inclusive
and transdiagnostic perspective, that improve the recognition of emotions in themselves
and in others and learn self-regulation strategies. Collaboration of teachers, parents and
occupational therapists is essential for the learning, implementation and development of
social-emotional skills in the school population.

5. Conclusions
The inclusion of social-emotional development and self-regulation programs in the
academic curriculum with active and play-based methodologies could contribute to estab-
lishing a comprehensive climate where everyone learns to accept differences and diversity.
Finally, parents consider this type of program essential and would like to receive more
information and training from the school.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, D.R.-A.; methodology, D.R.-A.; formal analysis, D.R.-A.

and J.-M.T.-J.; investigation, D.R.-A., B.E.-G., E.G.-M., N.G.-J., C.C.-D., and I.Á.-B.; writing—original
draft preparation, D.R.-A.; writing—review and editing, D.R.-A. and J.-M.T.-J. All authors have read
and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by Vicerrectorado de Igualdad, Inclusión y Sostenibilidad de la
Universidad de Granada, Convocatoria 2020 Ayudas de Investigación a la Inclusión.
Children 2022, 9, 829 10 of 11

Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Granada, on 13 January 2020
(code:1018/CEIH/2019).
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in
the study.
Data Availability Statement: The data are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank all the children, parents and teachers who
participated in this study.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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