The “first-grade problem” of the lack of concentration, listening, and following of instruction has been widely identified among Japanese kindergarten students. To promote their executive functioning and self-regulation to prevent this issue, we developed the Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program. The experimental group in which the program was implemented contained 79 children (average age = 73.22 months), and the standard practices group contained 70 children (average age = 72.91 months). Before and after the intervention, the children underwent tasks to test their behavioral self-regulation and executive function (working memory). For behavioral self-regulation, a significant interaction occurred between condition (experimental and standard practices) and time (pre- and post-test), suggesting that these 6 START lessons promoted self-regulation. However, no effects were found on either auditory or visual memory. Teacher reports in surveys were consistent with the executive functioning outcomes, reporting improvement in children’s concentration, listening, and self-regulation skills.

在日本幼儿园的学生中，普遍存在缺乏注意力，倾听和缺乏指导的“一年级问题”。为了促进他们的执行功能和自我调节，以防止出现此问题，我们制定了“社会思维和学术准备培训（START）”计划。实施该计划的实验组包含79名儿童（平均年龄= 73.22个月），标准练习组包含70名儿童（平均年龄= 72.91个月）。在干预之前和之后，孩子们接受任务来测试他们的行为自我调节和执行功能（工作记忆）。对于行为自我调节，条件（实验和标准实践）与时间（测试前和测试后）之间发生了显着的相互作用，这表明这6项START课程可以促进自我调节。但是，没有发现对听觉或视觉记忆的影响。调查中的教师报告与执行功能的结果一致，报告了儿童注意力，听觉和自我调节技能的提高。