Article summary with A systematic review of targeted social and emotional learning interventions in early childhood education and care settings by Blewitt a.o. - 2019

How can early childhood intervention contribute to children´s healthy development?

Children who lack social and emotional competence may experience adverse behavioral and academic consequences, and have a greater risk for long-term maladaptive health, wellbeing and vocational outcomes. Early childhood intervention aims to prevent that trajectory by fostering children´s social-emotional skills, attitudes, and behaviors. They try to encourage and nurture self-awareness, responsible decision making, social awareness, and self-management through lessons and child-centered teaching practices.

What is a response-to-intervention framework?

Response-to-intervention includes a three-tiered approach to identify and support children´s learning and behavioral needs through evidence-based intervention. It tries to align intervention to the needs of each child by increasing intensity from one tier to the next.

• The first tier offers universal curricula for all children. These programs provide a proactive and preventative approach that capitalizes on the preschool environment to promote social-emotional capabilities at the classroom scale.
• Tier two focuses on children that require more intensive support. It consists of targeted programs for children that are experiencing social, emotional, or behavioral challenges. This tier seeks to prevent escalation of more serious mental health concerns.
• Tier three interventions are presented to children requiring intensive and individualized assistance, usually children that display characteristics of mental health and developmental challenges.

How effective are Tier two intervention programs?

The effectiveness of Tier two programs in early learning settings for children experiencing social, emotional, or behavioral challenges was investigated in a meta-review. The following results were found:

• Several studies reported improvement in children´s social interactions, social skills, social-communicative behavior, and teach-child closeness following SEL intervention.
• Most interventions targeted children´s relationship skills through direct social skill instruction, teacher-child relationship building, play-based learning, or instructional practices. Early social skills have proven to be very important for children´s behavior.
• Children´s emotional and behavioral problems as a result of SEL intervention improved, but the results within and across studies were inconsistent. Children need time to rehearse and integrate newly learned behaviors. The development and maintenance of problematic behaviors and emotions are influenced by many factors, most importantly, the family context.