A study suggests preschoolers may not be learning an important school-readiness skill, not early literacy and language, but self control.

The study examined four skill areas - self-regulation, decoding, letter knowledge, and vocabulary - and found preschool was not linked with self-regulation. Age not preschool attendance also predicted vocabulary development. Time in preschool, however, was associated with gains in letter knowledge and decoding, according to a research summary.

In a small study (PDF) of four year olds in a suburban school district, researchers showed that while pre-k participation improved decoding and letter recognition skills, it did not contribute to greater capacity for self-regulation. While children did improve in this area, researchers attributed the positive change to natural maturation and suggested that "self-regulation is a learned, but neglected, skill in the preschool years." Pre-K  Picks, Pre-K Now.

This edition of Pre-K Picks is full of links to relatively new research on connections between self-regulation in early learning and longer term success. If you don’t already subscribe to this regular summary of developments in pre-kindergarten you can sign up by sending an email to Pre-K Now, info@preknow.org.

Can Robots Help Children with Autism Learn? A preschool for autistic children is using a robot to help students learn how to interact, according a new story.

The girl attends a pre-school for autistic children in Stevenage, north of London, where researchers bring in a human-looking, child-sized robot once a week for a supervised session. The children, whose autism ranges from mild to severe, play with the robot for up to 10 minutes alongside a scientist who controls the robot with a remote control. – Associated Press, via MSNBC.com. 3/8/11.

So far, there is no long-term study that suggests the robot helps children with autism develop social skills, but researchers have case studies showing improvement, according to the article.

Check it out.