Practices for Enhancing Children's Social-Emotional Development And

Practices for Enhancing Children’s Social-Emotional Development and Preventing Challenging Behavior by Robert M. Corso Ms. Talbot’s preschool classroom is a fun place to be. The children are working on a project about water and are very excited about it. Ms. Talbot has lots of great activities planned. However, she has 17 children in the classroom and in her words “there are lots of challenging behaviors.” It seems like children are always taking things away from each other, crying, leaving group activities, and “having a fit” when it comes time to change activities. Ms. Talbot is so frustrated she doesn’t know what to do. gifted child today 51 Enhancing Children's Social-Emotional Development perspectives. Oftentimes this means embracing the tension that arises when different perspectives exist. Intensive To develop reciprocal relationships, Individualized Interventions early care providers must establish interactions that allow for equal voice Social and Emotional for all perspectives. Additionally, for Teaching Strategies relationships to be reciprocal and responsive, adults must be willing to examine their personal, family, and cultural views of challenging child Creating Supportive Environments behavior. Specifically, early care providers must examine their personal beliefs regarding the acceptability and unacceptability of specific types Positive Relationships With Children, Families, and Colleagues of child behavior, consider personal beliefs regarding the causes of specific types of unacceptable child behavior, Figure 1. A model for promoting children’s social-emotional and acknowledge contrasting or con- development and preventing challenging behavior. flicting beliefs held by others regarding acceptable and unacceptable types If you have ever worked in a children’s appropriate behavior, and of child behavior based on deeply held preschool setting, this story prob- address challenging behaviors. The cultural beliefs. ably sounds familiar. The behaviors four levels of practice are designed to described above are frustrating to promote the social-emotional devel- Creating Supportive teachers and can disrupt the ongoing opment and behavior of all children Environments routine of the classroom. When teach- including those with ongoing, persis- ers are in these situations, they are tent by challenging behavior. When children know what is often anxious to find strategies that expected of them, what to do, when they can use to “deal with” specific Importance of to do it, and how to do it, they are challenging behaviors. Importantly, many challenging behaviors can be Relationships less likely to engage in challenging prevented by designing environments behavior. In general, children’s chal- that promote children’s engagement As the pyramid depicts, the foun- lenging behaviors often result from and teaching children new social dation of this model is grounded in boredom, frustration, anxiety, or skills (Lawry, Danko, & Strain, 1999; the context of positive, supportive confusion. For young gifted children, Neilsen, Olive, Donovan, & McEvoy, relationships between teachers and challenging behavior may also result 1999; Strain & Hemmeter, 1999). children, as well as with families and from perfectionism, limited stimula- Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, other professionals. These relation- tion, and difficulty finding peers with and Strain (2003) have described a ships are essential to implementing similar interests. Classroom environ- framework for promoting children’s effective practices to support children’s ments, both physical and social, can social-emotional development and social-emotional development. These be designed to minimize these kinds preventing and addressing children’s relationships do not come automati- of feelings and increase the likelihood challenging behavior. This framework cally but are instead built over a period that children will be engaged in mean- is represented in the teaching pyramid of time through respectful, reciprocal, ingful activities. For example, teach- (see Figure 1) and includes effective and responsive interactions. ers can increase the likelihood that practices that are designed to promote To have respectful relationships, children will be engaged in meaning- children’s social skills and emotional early care providers must acknowl- ful ways if the materials and activities development, provide support for edge the range and validity of diverse are designed and selected based on the 52 summer 2007 • vol 30, no 3 Enhancing Children's Social-Emotional Development children’s unique interests, ability lev- room does not happen without plan- books, songs, and games can be used els, and backgrounds. ning; it requires a deliberate approach to explain the concept to children in a Creating supportive environments on the part of the teaching staff. The way that they are likely to understand. involves implementing practices that social environment of the classroom Using several different types of activi- promote children’s engagement, help provides the context for children to ties and strategies throughout the day children understand expectations and develop the social skills and emotional will increase the likelihood that all routines, and reduce the likelihood foundations that they will need to be children will begin to grasp these con- that challenging behavior will occur. successful in school and life. cepts. Center time and outdoor play, These practices relate to the physical Important goals related to chil- as well as other child-directed activi- design of the environment including dren’s social-emotional development ties, provide an important context for schedules, routines, and transitions; include initiating and maintaining children to practice the skill and get adaptations and modifications; class relationships with others, resolving feedback about the skill from teach- rules; and teacher behaviors. Although conflicts, making friends, and com- ers and peers. Concrete examples and many of these practices are generic in municating feelings, emotions, and ample opportunities to practice the nature, they play a crucial role in pre- needs in appropriate and effective skill will be critical to children learn- venting challenging behavior. ways. Viewing social competence from ing the skill. A key aspect of creating supportive this perspective suggests a broader set environments is teaching children the of goals than is typically addressed Intensive Individualized expectations of the environment. For in preschool classrooms. Specifically, preschool children, the expectations skills that should be taught can be Interventions of the preschool classroom are likely grouped into three categories: (a) to differ in a variety of ways from friendship skills; (b) emotional regu- Intensive individualized interven- expectations experienced at home or lation and empathy (e.g., recognizing, tions are used when children con- in other settings. Children cannot be responding to, and expressing emo- tinue to have challenging behavior expected to understand the new rou- tions, self-regulation); and (c) prob- despite efforts to develop a positive tines or expectations of the preschool lem solving. relationship with the child, build environment unless those expecta- Research on social-emotional relationships with families, use class- tions are taught and reinforced in teaching strategies and curricula has room preventive practices, and teach ways that are meaningful to each resulted in a set of strategies that have social skills (Fox et al., 2003). This child. Teachers should consider chil- been demonstrated to be effective in approach uses the science of Positive dren’s different experiences outside teaching social skills to young children. Behavior Support (PBS) to develop the classroom and teach expectations Generally, these strategies include: a behavior support plan that may be in ways that are sensitive to these dif- describing, modeling, rehearsing, used within the classroom and home ferent experiences. Teachers should role-playing, prompting children in environment. The description of this also work with parents to explain the naturalistic contexts, and reinforcing approach as intensive and individual- expectations of the classroom and to and acknowledging the skill when it ized refers to the use of a process that discuss issues related to differences in occurs. It is important that children requires teaming among classroom school and home expectations. learn the concept (e.g., teaching chil- staff and family members to design dren during morning meeting about an intervention plan that is based on what it means to be a friend), practice understanding of the individual child, Social-Emotional the skill (e.g., during snack, center, the environmental factors that relate Teaching Strategies and other times when children need to the child’s problem behavior, and a friend), and have opportunities to the child’s strengths and needs. Promoting children’s social-emo- view and talk about examples and The PBS process begins by devel- tional development requires a compre- nonexamples of the skill (e.g., during oping a team that includes both fam- hensive approach that includes creating group or individual discussions with ily members and classroom personnel. a social context, teaching social skills, the teacher). Large- and small-group Family participation can be promoted and facilitating children’s emotional activities provide a useful context for and encouraged by meeting in the development. Creating a caring,

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