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Promoting Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood Settings

Promoting Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood Settings. All children are born wired for feelings and ready to learn. -- from Neurons to Neighborhoods. Presented by: Grace Saulsbury, BA, CCHC Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. Maria. Jacob. Objectives:.

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Promoting Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood Settings

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  1. Promoting Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood Settings All children are born wired for feelings and ready to learn. -- from Neurons to Neighborhoods Presented by: Grace Saulsbury, BA, CCHC Lexington-Fayette County Health Department

  2. Maria

  3. Jacob

  4. Objectives: Gain knowledge of the connection between social and emotional development and learning Learn how to support the social and emotional development of young children Gain skills to recognize and address social and emotional difficulties of young children.

  5. Definitions

  6. Skill Areas for Kindergarteners • Complying with rules, limitations, routines • Performing tasks • Interacting with adults • Interacting with peers • Coping with challenges • Using self-help skills • Expressing needs

  7. How are these topics related? • Early experiences • Brain development • Social development • Emotional development

  8. Brain Model

  9. Activity: Social and Emotional Connections • Find the Welcome to the World period of development that corresponds to the age of children you work with. • Study the list of skills and write down at least five that involve social-emotional development and at least one other area of development • As a group, we will explain the relationships between the skills you list and other areas of development

  10. Touch me and I will grow, Speak to me and I will learn, Look at me and I will thrive, I will be all that I can become.

  11. Objectives: Gain knowledge of the connection between social and emotional development and learning Learn how to support the social and emotional development of young children Gain skills to recognize and address social and emotional difficulties of young children.

  12. Brainstorming How can we promote social and emotional well-being in infants?

  13. How to Promote Social and Emotional Well-Being in Infants • Hold, carry, rock, and touch babies often • Respond promptly and calmly to crying or fussing • Make feeding, diapering, and other care-giving routines enjoyable • Repeat back the sounds baby makes-take turns talking, singing, and listening • Use schedules that meet individual needs for sleeping, feeding, and acive play. • Provide a variety of opportunities, places, and positions for active movement Never yell at, shame, spank, shake, harm, or threaten to harm a baby.

  14. Role of Care-Giversin Supporting Social-Emotional Development • Foster secure attachments • Meet needs reliably • Be sensitive to stages of growth

  15. Cycle of Nurturing:A Child’s First Year

  16. Cycle of Nurturing:A Child’s Second Year

  17. Encouraging Children to Engage in Learning Activities • Provide guidance and encouragement by asking the child what next steps the child may take with the activity. • Extend the activity by introducing a new element, such as bringing some toy cars over to the block structure the child is working on. • Express interest and joy while watching and playing with the child. • Show appreciation for the child’s attempts to perform, even if they are not successful. • Model some ways to play or work with the materials or activity.

  18. How to Promote Social and Emotional Well-Being in Children • Be familiar with the stages of social and emotional development • Talk with children about their feelings • Smile and laugh often • Encourage play and friendship among children • Respect the cultures of the children you work with • Help children learn to respect the feelings of others • Use positive guidance methods, such as listening, redirecting, and praising good behavior • Teach children how to handle conflicts Never harm, threaten, or shame children.

  19. Temperament • Temperament is often described in the terms difficult, easy, and slow-to-warm • Many characteristics, or dimensions, influence the way we perceive a child’s temperament.

  20. Small Group Discussion:Dimensions of Temperament • Look over the description of one dimension of temperament in groups of three or four • Discuss why children may act and respond differently based on this dimension of temperament

  21. Parten’s Theory of Social Play

  22. Objectives: Gain knowledge of the connection between social and emotional development and learning Learn how to support the social and emotional development of young children Gain skills to recognize and address social and emotional difficulties of young children.

  23. Brainstorming What are some behaviors that might indicate that an infant or toddler’s mental health and social/emotional well-being might be at risk? What about older children?

  24. At-Risk Behaviors:Infants and Young Children • Displays very little emotion • No interest in sights, sounds, or touch • Pushes away from or avoids being touched or held • No interest in playing with other children or adults • Unusually difficult to soothe or console • Unable to comfort or calm self • Extremely fearful or on-guard • Does not seek comfort from familiar adults • Clings to strangers • Sudden behavior changes

  25. At-Risk Behaviors:Older Toddlers and Pre-schoolers • Cannot play with children, adults, or objects • Does not communicate or show interest in others • Very aggressive (frequent hitting or biting) • Appears unusually sad, fearful, or withdrawn • Shows extreme mood swings • Responds inappropriately to situations (laughing instead of crying) • Loses previously-mastered skills (toileting, language, motor) • Destructive to self or others • Sudden behavior changes

  26. Activity: Hand Dance How challenging is it to be the leader? How challenging is it to follow?

  27. Responsive Approach to Care-Giving WATCH ASK ADAPT

  28. Watch Notice what the child is doing. Observe the child to find out what immediate needs the child might have and what is interesting to the child. Decide what temperamental traits the child exhibits. Is he “easy,” “difficult,” or “slow-to-warm” ? By paying attention to the child, care-givers can discover which responses work and when to try something else.

  29. Ask After noticing the child, his or her needs, interests, and temperament, step back and ask yourself: What messages is the child sending? What does the child need from me, and from the environment?

  30. Adapt After answering the questions, adapt your behavior, or the environment, responding in the way you think will best meet the child’s needs. As you adapt your actions according to what you have learned about the child, the cycle of Watch, Ask, Adapt continues.

  31. Example Watch: Slow-to-warm baby is having a difficult time separating from parent. Ask: Adapt:

  32. Brainstorming Keeping these concepts in mind, how can we support the social and emotional development of young children? How can we intervene when children have behavioral or other difficulties?

  33. Addressing Social/Emotional Difficulties • Responsive care-giving • Work with the family and PCP • Know when to refer • Make use of community resources

  34. What to ConsiderWhen Thinking About Referring a Child for Special Help • How severe is the behavior? • How often does the behavior occur? • How long does each incident of the behavior last? • How do other children the same age behave in comparison? • What could be changed in the early childhood setting or home to improve the behavior?

  35. Community Resources • First Steps (birth-3) 1-877-417-8377 • Bluegrass MH/MR Board 859-233-0444 • Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist-Christy Leaver 859-806-9231 • 1-800-CHILDREN

  36. Review • Any final questions? • Feel free to share with the group one topic you enjoyed learning about, or one fact that will influence your work with children • Please complete an evaluation

  37. Resources Brain Model adapted from Conscious Discipline: Loving Guidancewww.consciousdiscipline.com Kourapis, Katherine. Social and Emotional Development: Building the Child’s Foundation, Grow to 5 Module H, 2004. Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, 2004 Annual Review Hewitt, Deborah. So This is Normal Too? St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press, 1995.

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