Teachers are highly concerned about students with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD). Lately, much emphasis has been given to the field of prevention in schools, through the Competence-Enhancement Perspective. Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) provide the necessary skills to be acquired by students. The…

This article considers the nature of social play deficits in autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). It discusses how initial social difficulties of children with ASDs prevent the development of social interaction, and cognitive and affective difficulties prevent play from developing to the extent of attracting other children. Teaching strategies are…

As the field of mental health services shifts its focus to early intervention, the need to develop valid and reliable measures of young children's behavioral functioning is clear. Traditional assessment instruments have focused on deficits, problems, and pathologies to the exclusion of strengths and competencies. However, assessing child strengths…

In this article Tortora, a dance therapist, interviews Myron Hofer, director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Columbia University. Dr. Hofer has spent decades studying how the mother's behaviors and actions shape and regulate the physiological, neurophysiological, and psychological functioning of her babies--specifically,…

A key to supporting a child's emerging literacy is building relationships with adults and peers through interactions around literacy activities. The development of sustained relationships with adults who engage a child in authentic conversations increases the opportunities for the child to build literacy connections. Robust relationships with…

Preschools are environments where children are given opportunities to develop emotional, social and intellectual capabilities, characteristics that by recent research have been revealed as health protecting. The objectives of this study were to examine the intentions of 25 Swedish municipalities to develop such capabilities through activities in…

Prenatal cocaine and opiate exposure are thought to subtly compromise social and emotional development. The authors observed a large sample of 236 cocaine-exposed and 459 nonexposed infants (49 were opiate exposed and 646 nonexposed) with their mothers in the face-to-face still-face paradigm. Infant and maternal behaviors were microanalytically…

This article describes the development of a teacher's framework to identify a number of primary school classes in Malta characterized by high levels of pupil resilience, namely socio-emotional competence and educational engagement. The article starts by defining resilience as a proactive, contextual and relational phenomenon concerning all pupils,…

With the realisation of the importance that self-esteem has as a central role in children's success in school and furthermore for their future in the work place and their personal lives, educators identified some systems, which can be integrated into school life, that target self-esteem and social and emotional skills. One such model is Circle…

Many attempts at bringing successful educational programs and products "to scale" as part of school reform, particularly in urban districts, have been disappointing. Based on the experiences of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and reviews of literature addressing implementation failures, observations about…

Background: Cognitive skills thought to be necessary to undertake cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) include the ability to recognize emotions, link events and emotions, and recognize cognitive mediation. These skills have been assessed in people with intellectual disabilities, but not in those who also have psychosis. Materials and methods:…

This article re-examines the initial training of physical education teachers with the purpose of pinning down its professional significance. The author maintains that we have lost, in part, its meaning, and, in an attempt to recover it, offers two initial strategies: to revisit two basic concepts--education in general and physical education in…

This article presents a framework for planning professional development opportunities to increase teachers' confidence and competence in supporting young children's social-emotional development and addressing challenging behaviors. The framework makes use of a comprehensive collection of training materials developed by the Center on the Social and…

Developmental science integrates concepts from developmental medicine, human genetics, developmental and clinical psychology to understand behavioural adjustment and maladjustment in children, adolescents and adults as a product of the transactions between the child, its biological organization and its social experience. Put into such a…

This book provides descriptions of 76 engaging activities that can be used to teach children, adolescents, and adults valuable social, emotional, and problem-solving skills. Some of the skills taught include identifying and expressing one's own emotions, identifying emotions in others, coping with stressors, making and keeping friends, setting…