This approach could also help bring families closer together, by encouraging more play between children and their parents, and could also help deliver wider social benefits.
University senior psychology lecturer Dione Healey yesterday explained the potential of the Engage programme she has helped develop.
Engage is an acronym for ''enhancing neurobehavioural gains with the aid of games and exercise''.
One game involves learning to make - and later building from memory - interesting structures from wooden building blocks.
The key was not the games themselves, but to ''teach self-regulatory skills through play''.
These included cognitive regulation, involving attention, concentration and memory; and behavioural regulation, such as calming down and reducing impulsive responding.
An ''animal speed game'' was often ''very helpful'' if people wanted to teach children to regulate their behaviour and ''be able to do things in a calm, controlled way''.
Children tried doing things at different speeds, including ''really fast'', which was ''like a cheetah''.
Medium speed was ''like a giraffe'' and slow speeds were ''like a turtle''.
Once they had practised this in play, the animal references could be used as a ''prompt for children to do things calmly and slowly'', such as to walk to the bathroom slowly, for children who ''tend to run off to do things''.
Dr Healey has already tried the approach successfully with about 90 3 to 5-year-olds in recent years, and has now moved on to a trial with some kindergarten pupils.
She was pleased this approach seemed to be ''having real benefits'', which were lasting over time.
Behavioural improvements had also been achieved through medication and an established programme involving rewards and discipline administered by parents.
Each programme had ''unique benefits'', and it was important to have a range of treatment options available.
If children could be taught core self-regulation skills early on, this would ''set them up'' for better learning at school.
The new approach could also help in managing social interactions and managing their own emotions in later life, she said.
