Socially, Emotionally Healthy Children

One of the main speakers at the Governor's Institute was Dr. M. Ann Levett. She is the Executive Director of the School Development Program at the Child Study Center at Yale University. She spoke to us on Restoring the Spirit to Preschool Education: Recognizing the Value of Social and Emotional Development. Dr. Levett reviewed factors in the social and emotional development of young children and the adult's role in the development of healthy children. We all see the increasing pressure for academic success at an early age, but as Willard Hartup ( 1992) found, "The single best childhood predictor of adult adaptation is not IQ, school grades, or classroom behavior. Rather it is the adequacy with which the child gets along with other children." Hartup also found that, "unless children achieve minimal social competence by age six, they have a high probability of being at risk throughout life."
Dr. Levett suggested that we can identify socially, emotionally healthy children by the following abilities:

• separate from family members without extreme stress
• form an attachment with an adult at school
• conform to routines without too much difficulty or stress
• involve themselves in play
• have an aware of their own and other's feelings

She went on to suggest that adults can help promote positive social-emotional skills in children by:

• building confidence
• helping students learn to like themselves as well as others
• modeling the desired behaviors
• assisting children to build positive relationships with other children
• developing a sense of being valued, in children
• praising appropriate behaviors
• offering children choice, thereby giving them some control over their life
• providing opportunities to cooperate, interact and problem solve conflicts with others
• encouraging children to be generous
• helping children understand others by taking on the role of others
• promoting healthy behaviors

Dr. Levett had us question the consequences of focusing on the cognitive development of preschool children, when research points to the importance of social, emotional skills. years, the local kindergarten teachers have told me basically the same message; if a child comes to school with strong social-emotional skills, they will be ready to learn academic skills. Take a few minutes to reflect on how you can help develop socially, emotionally healthy children.

To learn more about Dr. Levett's work go to http://www.schooldevelopmentprogram.org/index.html