Early Childhood Developmet

2. Social and Emotional
Development
Social and emotional development
involves the acquisition of a set of
skills. Key among them are the
ability to:
O• identify and understand one’s
own feelings,
O• accurately read and
comprehend emotional states in
others,

3. Social and Emotional Development

6. OTeachers should strive to help children
learn the kinds of behaviors that will
help them become successful in school,
particularly beahviors referred to in the
Child outcome framework.

9. OThese developmental tasks are best
accomplished during the preschool years
because building positive social skills and
healthy emotional relationships in young
children is much easier than later trying to
correct behavior and adjustment
problems. In fact, preschool children who
show aggressive behaviors and those who
are neglected or rejected by peers are
likely to encounter significant difficulties
in school and in life (Katz & McClellan
1997).

11. OPositive social-emotional
development provides a base for
life-long learning.
OSocial skills and emotional self-regulation
are integrally related to
later academic success in school.
OPrevention of future social and
behavioral difficulties is more
effective than later remediation.

13. O. A particular challenge for Head Start
teachers is that some children from
high-poverty environments have not
had home experiences that
encourage initiative; their
verbalizations and physical
explorations may have been
prohibited rather than encouraged
(Hart & Risley 1995). As a result,
these areas of their development may
lag significantly and require focused
intervention in preschool.