Social and Emotional Prevention and Intervention Programming for Preschoolers

Susanne Denham received her Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology in 1985, after 11 years as a school psychologist. Her research involves social-emotional development, particularly in preschoolers. She is following a longitudinal sample of children she has known since age 3 - examining their emotional competence, its socialization, and its contribution to social competence - and is also studying a little-studied aspect of children's development - forgiveness. With Dr. Burton, she spearheaded a successful social-emotional prevention program for daycare children in Northern Virginia in the early 1990s. Rosemary Burton received her Ph.D. in education in 1995, after years as both an early childhood teacher and daycare director. She trains myriad teachers in her role as director of operations for Minnieland Private Day Schools throughout several states, as well as in her role as community college professor, and in these roles has promoted social-emotional prevention and intervention programming for preschoolers as a vital enterprise.

1. Introduction: The Importance of Emotional and Social Competence.- 1.1. Introduction.- 1.2. Experience and Expression of Emotions.- 1.2.1. Emotional Experience.- 1.2.2. Expression of Emotions.- 1.2.2.1 Expressive Process.- 1.2.2.2. Expressive Outcomes.- 1.3. Understanding Emotions.- 1.4. Emotion Regulation.- 1.5. Emotional Competence: Developmental and Individual Differences.- 1.6. Socialization of Emotional and Social Competence.- 1.6.1. Modeling of Emotional Expressiveness.- 1.6.2. Contingent Reactions to Children's Emotions.- 1.6.3. Teaching About Emotions.- 1.6.4. Summarizing the Socialization of Emotional Competence.- 1.7. Social Competence and Social-Emotional Learning (Sel).- 1.7.1. Linkage of Emotional and Social Competence.- 1.8. Summary and Conclusion.- 2. Targeting Programs for Preschool Emotional and Social Competence.- 2.1. Introduction.- 2.2. Sel Goals.- 2.3. How do We Reach These Sel Goals?.- 2.4. Behavior Problems and Social INCompetence.- 2.4.1. Specific Behavior Problems Associated With Lack of SEL.- 2.4.1.1. Challenging Behaviors Traced to Differing Patterns Of Risk and Resilience.- 2.4.1.2. Children Already Showing Diagnosable Problems.- 2.5. Sel Programming for Young Children.- 2.5.1. Prevention/Intervention: What Is Needed? What Has Been Done? Where Do We Go From Here?.- 2.6. Summary and Conclusion.- 3. Preschoolers' Attachment and Emotional Competence.- 3.1. Introduction to Attachment as Foundational for Emotional Competence.- 3.2. Early Attachment Classifications and Their Sequelae.- 3.3. Attachment and Emotional Competence.- 3.4. Attachments Beyond the Child-Parent Relationship.- 3.4.1. Preschool Teachers/ Daycare Providers and Attachment.- 3.4.2. Compensatory Effects of Secure Child-Teacher Attachment.- 3.5. Principles for Practitioners.- 3.6. Summary: Attachment as Foundation for Sel.- 3.7. Conclusions: What Can We Do?.- 4. Applications Centered on Attachment: Lessons from the Field.- 4.1. Introduction to Sel Programming.- 4.1.1. Introduction to Attachment Applications.- 4.2. Attachment Theory in the Preschool Classroom.- 4.3. Teaching Teachers About Building Attachment Relationships.- 4.3.1. Initial Approaches.- 4.3.2. Roadblocks on the Way to Attachment.- 4.3.3. Moving Beyond the Roadblocks.- 4.3.4. Attachment-Specific Information Imparted.- 4.3.4.1. Elements of "Floor Time ".- 4.3.4.2. Teaching About Floor Time.- 4.3.4.3. Curricular Elements Related to Attachment.- 4.3.4.4. Problem Areas in Creating an Attachment-Positive Classroom.- 4.4. Teaching Parents about Attachment and Floor Time.- 4.4.1. Parents and Floor Time.- 4.4.2. Intervening with Parents and Children at Risk - The Circles Of Security Program.- 4.4.2.1. Steps in the COS Program.- 4.4.2.2. Evaluation of the COS Program.- 4.4.3. The Seattle Approach.- 4.5. Summary and Conclusions.- 5. Guiding Preschoolers'Behavior: Short-Term Meanings, Long-Term Outcomes.- 5.1. Introduction: Foundations and Methods of Guidance in Early Childhood.- 5.1.1. Indirect Guidance.- 5.2. Guidance: Where Do We Start?.- 5.2.1. The Meaning of Behavior.- 5.2.2 Observing Children's Behavior.- 5.2.3. Putting the Package Together.- 5.3. Specifics for Guiding Behavior.- 5.3.1. More Operant Approaches.- 5.3.2. Costs of "Power Assertive" Techniques.- 5.3.3. What Should We Do Instead? "Control" and "Discipline" Versus "Guidance".- 5.3.3.1. Persistent Persuasion.- 5.3.3.2. Inductive Guidance Strategies.- 5.4. Summary and Conclusions.- 6. Teaching Teachers about Guidance: Lessons from the Field.- 6.1. Introduction: The Needs of Teachers and children.- 6.2. Training Teachers to use Indirect Guidance.- 6.3. Using Direct Guidance.- 6.4. Reflection on Guidance and Time for Practice.- 6.5. Summary and Conclusions.- 7. Emotion Understanding and Emotion Regulation.- 7.1. Emotion Understanding.- 7.1.1. Labeling Emotional Expressions.- 7.1.2. Identifying Emotion-Eliciting Situations.- 7.1.3. Comprehending Causes of Emotions.- 7.1.4.