In Taiwan, the high prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems in children has increased public awareness of young children's social-emotional development in recent years. Early identification of social-emotional delays for all young children, and subsequent early intervention (EI) with ongoing monitoring for children with special needs are…

When children come to a new country and have difficulty communicating, it may be unclear whether they have developmental problems or are simply struggling with a new language. Early identification and treatment of developmental concerns are crucial to garnering the best results for developing an intervention plan and optimizing child outcomes.…

School models have been slow to evolve, however, expectations of students in terms of schoolwork and homework have increased year over year. These increased demands require a high level of Executive Functioning (EF). However, a disconnect between the demands of schools and children's developing EF system have led to increased incidences of…

In a world where children are likely to experience early-life trauma, relationships matter, and trust is a key in forming healthy working relationships. Intentionally teaching adults and teachers how to evoke calmness in ourselves and breathe to handle negative situations, trusted educators can then teach children to do the same. It is important…

The consequences of trauma and chronic toxic stress on young children's social and neurobiological developments are numerous and well-documented in the literature (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020; Jimenez et al., 2016; Sciaraffa et al., 2018; Statman-Weil, 2015; Zeng et al., 2019). Children exposed to trauma during early…

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other researchers, the prevalence of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among school-aged children has gained the attention of researchers. Due to the large amount of time children spend in the school context, researchers have found that teachers play a…

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a detrimental effect on child development and children exposed to these events early in life are at risk for maladjustment as they enter and progress through school. This study examined the developmental pathways through which ACEs influence student-teacher relationships in kindergarten, internalizing…

Research has shown time spent outdoors in quality environments benefits the health, physical, mental, and cognitive development of young children. Despite these findings, many teachers in traditional preschool programs spend only a small part of the school day outdoors for gross motor and social development. The number of preschools that spend…

Childhood cancer changes the lives of all that it touches. The treatment is often as harmful as the disease itself and can impact the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development of the child. Long term effects can manifest years after treatment. This capstone was based on a vision of providing these young cancer survivors an opportunity…

In recent years, schools have begun Social Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction. In 1994, the term Social Emotional Learning was coined by CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning; originally named the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning). SEL instruction is critical in schools because communities and…

Children's poor social-emotional functioning has been an increasing concern prior to and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Childhood and adolescence are critical stages of life where they acquire key cognitive and social-emotional skills that shape their future mental health. When a student's social-emotional health suffers, so do their relationships,…

As internalizing and externalizing problems often co-occur, this dissertation utilized a longitudinal dataset of 784 at-risk children (predominantly from low-income families and academically at-risk; 52.6% male) followed yearly from grade 1 to grade 12 to: (a) explore the heterogeneity in the co-development patterns of internalizing and…

Young children experiencing toxic stress has negative consequences on their development. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of toxic stress in young children and the classroom practices used to assist students experiencing toxic stress from two rural early childhood centers in an eastern state in the United States.…

Over the past several decades, there has been a dramatic increase in research surrounding factors that influence children's school readiness, or preparedness that allows children to learn in a formal educational setting. It includes possessing early academic as well as cognitive and socio-emotional skills (e.g., self-regulation, emotion knowledge)…

The ability to effectively, positively, and productively cope with social problems is considered one of the most important developmental tasks for children's emotional and psychosocial adjustment. However there is a paucity of empirical research on children's competent problem solving (CPS) in early school years. CPS is a process of finding…