Social-emotional development is impacted in children exposed to chronic trauma (Neitzel, 2020). Children who do not learn how to express healthy reactions to their thoughts and feelings grow up to be adults with long-term health concerns (Loomis, 2018; Miller, 2019; Bartlett & Smith, 2019). The problem addressed through this study was that children who have experienced trauma often begin school ill-prepared to manage their emotions and impulsivities. These children struggle more than others with self-regulating thoughts, demonstrate poor executive functioning skills, and have difficulties forming positive relationships. The challenge was that social-emotional learning variations lead to problems measuring social-emotional competence. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how trauma affects children in school. The study addressed the following: (a) In what ways do students in an early childhood setting demonstrate that they have experienced trauma before attending school, and what impact will an evidence-based social-emotional learning intervention program have on their behavior? (b) What will negative self-regulation issues, poor executive functioning skills, and self-regulation issues look like in a child who has experienced trauma versus a child who does not have a history of trauma? The theoretical framework for the study included Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Albert Bandura's social learning theory. Each of the eight participants was a parent or guardian of a four or five-year-old child registered in the Greater Amsterdam School District in New York State. A hand-coding system was used to analyze responses and transcripts. Braun and Clarke's six-step process was implemented to analyze the data. Three broad themes emerged from the analysis: childhood trauma, current trauma, and children's behavior. This study implied that an evidence-based intervention for social-emotional growth is essential for children exposed to trauma to tackle the impact of adversity. When a child begins school and has early exposure to social-emotional learning, the child will have the skills to manage impulses and emotions. The results of this study provide a clear view of how implementing an evidence-based social-emotional learning intervention program will help children develop strategies for coping with the effects of trauma. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]