A program that can help teachers modify their interactions with students according to an individual’s temperament helps shy children to become more involved in their class work, and in turn, improves their math and demanding thinking skills.
Led by NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the study provides an evidence-based intervention to help shy children, who’re often at risk for poor academic achievement. The findings come in the School Psychology Review.
Shy children are described as anxious, fearful, socially withdrawn, and isolated. Within the classroom, they are less likely to find attention from teachers and to be concerned using their peers. Consequently, research shows that they’re going to have difficulty in class, and teachers may perceive them as being reduced academic skills and intelligence than their more outgoing classmates.
“The needs of shy children are important but often overlooked because they’re sitting quietly, while children with behavioral problems have more attention from teachers,” says Sandee McClowry, a professor in NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Applied Psychology and the study’s senior author. “You should get shy children engaged without overwhelming them.”
Shyness is among four temperaments identified in INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament, an intervention designed to help teachers and parents match environmental demands with an individual’s personality. The program provides a framework for appreciating and supporting variations in the personalities of children, rather that attempting to change them. Participants within the program learn to recognize four temperaments: shy, social willing and able to try, industrious, and maintenance.
In the present study, the researchers evaluated whether INSIGHTS supports the academic development C specifically critical thinking, math and language skills C of kids in urban, low-income schools. Nearly 350 children as well as their parents across 22 elementary schools were followed during kindergarten and across the transition into first grade. 1 / 2 of the colleges participating were randomized to INSIGHTS, while the partner, which served because the control group, participated in a supplemental after-school reading program.
“Kindergarten and first grade are big shifts for kids, no matter temperament. For instance, teacher-student ratios are higher and courses are more structured. For shy kids, this transition is really a particular challenge,” McClowry says.
The researchers were especially thinking about what happens after summer break, as studies have shown that high-risk children’s skills decline over the summer while they’re out of school. By providing children with extra support within the last part of kindergarten, they hoped to sustain the students’ skills over the summer.
Over 10 weeks, teachers and parents within the INSIGHTS program learned how to recognize variations in children and support them in ways which are specific to their individual temperaments. During the same period of time, children participated in INSIGHTS classroom activities, using puppets, flashcards, workbooks, and videotapes to assist them to solve daily dilemmas C for example, using a substitute teacher or a play date in an unfamiliar house C and know how individuals differ.
While all children signed up for INSIGHTS showed improvements in academic skills, the effects were substantially greater for shy children. Shy children who took part in INSIGHTS had significant growth in critical thinking skills and stability in math skills over the transition from kindergarten to first grade, when compared with their shy peers within the control group who declined both in areas.
The researchers observed no gains in language arts skills among shy kids from the INSIGHTS intervention compared to the control group, perhaps because of the benefits the children within the control group gained in the supplemental reading program.
“Our study supports creating an atmosphere which makes shy children feel safe and respected in order to support their development,” said Erin O’Connor, an affiliate professor within the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU Steinhardt and the study’s lead author. “We have to reframe our knowledge of these children, because for the most part, shy youngsters are not only going to ‘emerge from their shell.’”
