Indiana University Bloomington Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development Essay

After reading Chapter 9, Social and Emotional Developmentand the Social StudiesCHAPYER 9 BELOW© Radius / SuperStockAfter reading this chapter, you should be able to: From the FieldCritical Thinking QuestionYou know that in addition to meeting children’s physical needs and approaches to learning standards, a very important part of teaching young children is promoting and encouraging healthy social and emotional development. Some of the families of your class group are experiencing great stress—at least one family in your class is struggling with unemployment and at risk of losing its home, another has a military parent deployed to a combat zone, and a third is providing in-home care for a grandparent who recently had a stroke. You wonder how these circumstances might affect the children’s emotional stability and behavior and how you can help all the children to become confident in their ability to deal with challenges and solve problems they experience at school.You want the children to develop a strong sense of self and relate well to their teachers and peers. You also want to incorporate a developmentally appropriate approach to encourage them to regulate their own behavior and create a caring and vibrant classroom community. In this chapter, we explore important concepts and effective strategies for social and emotional development and a developmentally appropriate approach to social studies curriculum and standards.Previous section Next section As described in Chapter 4, the social and emotional needs of young children vary by age, personality, and circumstances. Social psychologists, led by Erik Erikson (1950), consider it critically important that young children develop secure attachments and trusting relationships, a positive self-image and confidence, independence regulated by awareness of and sensitivity to others’ feelings and expectations, and the ability to make and keep friends and function as a member of a community. These ideas provide the framework for early learning standards that focus on social and emotional development and are consistent with the 1997 National Education Goals Panel recommendations. Social and emotional development is an important element of early childhood curriculum for a number of reasons related to the development of resilience, self-regulation, and early childhood as a window of opportunity.Children who acquire the skills emphasized in the early learning standards for social-emotional development are far more likely to be resilient, able to cope with stress and overcome adversity. (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007; Pawlina & Stanford, 2011; Pizzolongo & Hunter, 2011). The kinds of significant challenges children face today include violence, abuse or neglect, natural disasters, economic distress within their families, and separation from loved ones. They also experience the typical developmental dilemmas that emerge as they begin to form friendships, experience rejection, and bond with unfamiliar adults.Resilient children display a sense of agency, a feeling of control over their own decisions, and confidence in their ability to solve problems. They also do better in school over the long term. Their mindset tends towards optimism in face of a dilemma or challenge (Pawlina & Stanford, 2011, p. 31). People without resilience, in contrast, feel powerless to improve their circumstances or solve problems (Pizzolongo & Hunter, 2011).Consider the family caring for a disabled grandparent and the range of reactions the child might display—the resilient child might see his grandpa’s illness as an opportunity to spend more time with him, reading books, sitting with him in the room and helping his parents with care needs; the child with a lack of resilience might instead pick up on a sense of parental distress, feel anxious, and act out for attention as he observes his parents spending time caring for grandpa when he feels he needs their attention himself. Children with special needs face additional challenges and may particularly need to develop skills associated with resiliency (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007).Self-regulation is the ability to make decisions to control impulses in varying situations. An increasing body of research confirms strong links between early and long-term academic success and a child’s ability to regulate her own behavior, work independently, control impulses, and follow directions (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007; Papalia & Feldman, 2011). These are learning skills that emerge with the development of executive functioning, as stressed in the Approaches to Learning standards (Chapter 7). While multiple factors including temperament, brain development, and home environment contribute to shaping these abilities, teachers certainly play an important role in helping children learn how to thrive in educational environments (Jewkes & Morrison, 2007).Social and academic competence is linked to classrooms with warm and responsive teachers and positive teacher-child interactions. Self-regulation that is internally motivated, rather than a response to expected rewards, also seems to develop best in classrooms where children have many opportunities to make and be accountable for their own decisions (Pianta, LaParo, Payne, Cox, & Bradley, 2002).© iStockphoto / ThinkstockBrain research points to the importance of acquiring these learning-related skills during the early childhood period (Masten & Gewirtz, 2006). The field of early childhood education has long emphasized the need for social and emotional competence and teachers who understand how children construct their social selves in a similar hands-on fashion as in other areas of development; studies today confirm more than ever that this continues to be the case (Saracho & Spodek, 2007).In the next two sections, we explore a social environment that promotes healthy development of these qualities and how teachers facilitate development of self-concept, social competence, and self-regulation.Providing an environment that promotes healthy social and emotional development requires considering the social ecology of the classroom (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011), or how interaction patterns vary according to setting and type of activity. Think of social ecology from the perspective of Bronfenbrenner, as a network of individual personalities as well as overlapping peer groups, characterized by different ways children join, create, or are assigned by others—by popularity, interest, friendship, ability, and so on. Understanding group identification as a natural human activity is important, since groups can have an impact on the social development of individuals (Kindermann & Gest, 2009). For instance, a teacher creates an artificial social ecology by assigning children to permanent or fixed reading groups using a single characteristic such as ability (homogeneous grouping). Subsequently, the children may recognize these distinctions and label their peers in these groups as “smart” or “dumb” and behave toward one another with this label in mind. Classroom ecology evolves more naturally when teachers vary the assignment of children to working groups (heterogeneous grouping) and monitor how children create and self-select their own membership in groups. Teachers learn a great deal about individual strengths and needs from observing the ways children form groups and interact with one another.In the class discussed above, those same children whom the teacher labeled by ability might categorize themselves by interest, such as “artists,” or “block builders.” Or they might develop perceptions about ability but express them differently, such as “fast runners” or “good storytellers.” Of course it is also possible that some group assignments would not be positive, such as “troublemakers” or “mean kids.” Teachers use this information to help individual children with social skills and to guide groups toward inclusive and positive interactions.Social acceptance, rejection, confidence levels, and self-image are all affected by social ecology and can also be very distinctive, fluid, or idiosyncratic from one class to the next. Teachers are most likely to establish a positive social atmosphere when they:Helping each child feel comfortable and safe at school or care is best achieved with a gradual approach. Preenrollment visits and individual interactions with the teacher build trust. Small-group play before whole-group activities helps children get to know each other. Acknowledging, modeling, and helping children express their feelings from the start allows them to feel emotionally safe and secure (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).© Corbis / SuperStocka positive social climate is helping families establish separation routines that allow the child to transition easily into school or care. Building community is an ongoing process that also starts before children enter the program, with home visits as well as written and verbal communications. It continues every day as teachers welcome children, establish routines that involve them in caring for the classroom and each other, and plan and conduct activities that help them learn about the concept of community and investigate the community in which they live and go to school or care.Teachers establish a positive verbal environment when they use language to demonstrate respect for children and their abilities by showing genuine interest in their activities and asking a variety of questions. Perhaps a teacher might say, “Wow, I see that you have brought in some very interesting rocks to share with us—can you tell us about where you found them and what you know about them?” Teachers model courtesy and help children understand expectations with language such as, “It would be so helpful if you could . . . ” Or “Thank you so much for putting your trucks away—you knew right where they belong.”Teachers should also encourage children to use their words to describe the choices they make, with opportunities to make decisions that are meaningful and important (Meese & Soderman, 2010). For example, a teacher might say, “I see you have put the ‘work in progress’ sign on your block structure—you must have some big ideas about what you are building—can you tell me about what you want to do next?” These kinds of verbal interactions help children feel valued and special and create conditions that affirm positive perceptions of themselves and others.The positive verbal environment can be used as a context for facilitating play interactions as teachers establish defined activity areas and pathways to allow for different types of social exchange. For example, by choosing and arranging furniture and equipment that encourage face-to-face encounters, teachers increase the chance that children will engage with one another (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2007). A comfortable area with pillows or soft furniture and homelike lighting for reading and looking at books encourages conversation and personal interactions. A playhouse in the outdoor space invites children to congregate and play in small groups.Direct teaching and modeling takes many forms, from having a conversation with an individual child about how to communicate anger with words to guiding three children through settling a dispute or constructing a set of “friendship guidelines” with an entire group or class.© iStockphoto / ThinkstockIn many ways, a teacher or caregiver’s behavior and interaction patterns are as important to children’s social and emotional development as any materials or activities in the classroom (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gallagher & Mayer, 2006; Willis & Schiller, 2011). In general, regardless of the age of children, teachers support social and emotional or affective development by building high-quality relationships with them. The specific characteristics of teacher-child interactions will vary over time and by age as teachers get to know their children, become familiar with them as individuals, establish mutual trust and respect, and commit to a long-term relationship with each child and family (Gallagher & Mayer, 2006).Teacher behaviors that promote high-quality relationships include:Previous section Next section Self-concept begins to develop very early, as babies first realize that their limbs are part of their bodies; it grows as toddlers, for example, begin to recognize their images in a mirror (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). This is a multidimensional concept that also affects how a child develops relationships with others.Children acquire personal identity as they learn to recognize and feel comfortable with their self-images and bodies. They begin to understand their social identity as comprising the kinds of things that characterize them as individuals within larger groups, such as ethnicity, culture, gender, and social standing (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Kowalski, 2007). They develop an attitude of confidence and an internalized sense of self-worth as they experience repeated success at completing tasks and solving problems. Young children also begin to develop empathy—the ability to imagine or understand how another person might feel in different situations. All these things are needed for a child to build healthy social relationships with peers and others.Young children tend to describe themselves in concrete terms, according to what they look like, what they can do, or what they like or don’t like. They can’t typically provide a description with multiple, integrated or qualitative characteristics until middle childhood (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Therefore it makes sense to do activities with them that focus on these concrete attributes so they can begin to develop a vocabulary for describing themselves in terms of things that are real to them, such as, “I have brown eyes” or “I like to dance.” Table 9.1 offers suggestions for steps teachers can take to foster a sense of self.Acquiring social identity includes learning about gender, ethnicity, and ability issues. Experts on multicultural and antibias education advise teachers to focus on values, interaction patterns, and equitable teaching practices, rather than curriculum activities that highlight superficial features like flags or potentially stereotypical images of different cultures, such as a sombrero or feathered headdress (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). In other words, children are taught to respond to each other courteously as individuals. This helps to create a classroom culture that values respect, caring, and the matter-of-fact recognition of similarities and differences. It also provides the grounding children need as concrete learners to understand their places in the context of others.Strategies that promote an accurate and unbiased environment include the following:Activities that can be used in the classroom to contribute to development of social identity include the following:© iStockphoto / ThinkstockAs children’s cognitive awareness and ability to use words to describe “who I am” develops, they also begin to make comparative judgments about themselves in relation to others. Children tend to have perceptions about their self-worth long before they begin to talk about it, which typically occurs toward the end of the early childhood period (around age 7 or 8) (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). Younger children also seldom make subtle distinctions, usually categorizing themselves at one or the other end of a spectrum, such as good/bad. Further, their ability to be realistic about strengths and weaknesses can be affected by adults who lavish unwarranted praise or who are continually critical.Essential to healthy self-esteem and confidence that motivates children to persist through difficulties is “unconditionality” (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). In other words, if a child’s self-esteem is solely contingent on success, she can develop a sense of helplessness if she is not successful on the first try. Conversely, if a child’s self-esteem and confidence are unconditional attributes, a failed attempt will only lead him to try repeatedly until he succeeds. Over time, children who lack confidence expect to fail and become more reluctant to take risks, while an overconfident child may not learn how to react to failure (Willis & Schiller, 2011).The goal for teachers of young children is to help them develop realistic confidence in several ways, as Table 9.2 illustrates.As defined earlier, empathy is an abstract concept that develops over a long time. Very young children generally do not experience or express empathy. Infants, toddlers, and young preschoolers tend to be highly egocentric, acknowledging only their own needs and assuming that everyone experiences the world from a single perspective—theirs (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969)! It would not be effective, for example, to address an 18-month-old child who bit another child with, “That was mean! How do you think you made him feel?”The teacher or caregiver could, however use such an episode as an opportunity to begin building empathy. The teacher might say, “Oh, you hurt your friend,” and ask the biter to help comfort the other child, perhaps by holding his hand or helping to hold ice on the bite. Parents, teachers, and caregivers can encourage children—beginning around age 3—to consider how others are feeling, keeping in mind that it takes many such experiences for empathy and compassion to grow.As with many other dimensions of social learning, it is essential to use language to help children recognize what others are feeling or thinking. You might, for example, say “Remember this morning when you couldn’t find the block you were looking for and you got upset? I see that Molly is getting frustrated because she can’t find what she is looking for—can you help her?” Here you are letting both children know that emotions and feelings are universal and that one can demonstrate sympathy and concern.Caregivers can support the development of empathy by providing children with opportunities to care for and recognize emotional signals and body language in others. Children should also be encouraged to consider the fact that different people have different perspectives about the same situation. Simple activities such as looking at, describing, or drawing an interesting seashell from multiple angles, or asking children what they see when they lie on their backs and look up at the sky, provide concrete reference points for discussing point of view.Additional caretaking activities that help children to develop empathy include:© Fotosearch / SuperStockwhich helps children learn to respond to others in distress. To help children learn to recognize and acknowledge others’ feelings, try activities such as: More From the FieldCritical Thinking QuestionWith young children, developing healthy social relationships depends a great deal on a general feeling of safety and confidence (Willis & Schiller, 2011) as well as on established interactions with family members and caretakers, and making/maintaining friendships in the neighborhood and at school or child care (Howes & Lee, 2007). One of the most heartbreaking things a teacher can witness is a child who is a social outcast, unable or unwilling to make friends, clearly miserable and unhappy most of the time. Infants as young as 2 months begin to distinguish peers from others and by 2 years of age have begun to display preferences in play partners (Kowalski, 2007; Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006).Play-based group settings that provide children with adequate space, time to play, open-ended and creative activities support positive and complex interactions between and among children more than those with highly directed programs and limited access to materials (Howes & Lee, 2007; Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006). Important as well is evidence that close and trusting relationships between children and their teachers provide children with emotional resources that help them manage stress and aggressive tendencies (Gallagher & Mayer, 2006; Gallagher, Dadisman, Farmer, Huss, & Hutchins, 2007; Howes & Lee, 2007; Ladd & Burgess, 2001). Two challenges for teachers to help children develop healthy social relationships are promoting peer-group acceptance and facilitating and creating the conditions for children to form friendships with other individuals.© Visions of America / SuperStockThrough observation and interactions with children, early educators learn to distinguish between general acceptance of a child by his peers and true friendships between individual children characterized by mutual affection, companionship, and longevity (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2007). The factors that attract children to their peers are very similar to those that attract adults—shared interests, personality, appearance, and behavior (Howes & Lee, 2007; Kowalski, 2007).General peer acceptance is important, since much of a child’s day at school or care involves interactions with others in play, small- or large-group activities with adults, snacks and mealtimes, story time, or rest. Some of these activities are more “high profile” than others; for example, if a child states loudly, “Ewww, I don’t want Timmy to sit with me at lunch,” it is likely other children will hear and the probability of Timmy being rejected by others increases (Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006). Further, once a child has established a negative reputation, that reputation becomes more and more difficult to overcome, and it becomes harder for the child to form individual friendships as well (Buhs & Ladd, 2001; Gallagher et al., 2007; Persson, 2005).Because play is typically a fluid activity, with children moving about and highly engaged in what they are doing, a child can “practice” negotiating relationships with peers by inviting others to play or asking them to join a play in progress. Studies have shown that children are most successful in their attempts to join group play when teachers encourage them to:Young children communicate and cooperate more with their friends than with other children (Howes & Lee, 2007; Kowalski, 2007). They also have more conflicts but usually find ways to resolve them (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2007). Over time, from spending a lot of time together and sharing experiences (mutual socialization), they may even take on similar characteristics or preferences, such as hairstyles, clothing, or musical tastes (Howes & Lee, 2007; Kids Matter, 2009).Young children are more likely to make friends when they are able to use their words effectively to initiate conversations, express feelings, provide ideas for play, and compliment other children. They are also more successful when their behavior is generally helpful and cooperative, demonstrating the ability to share and take turns, refusing to join in others’ negative behavior, playing fair, following rules, and being good losers (Bovey & Strain, 2012; Kids Matter, 2009).Engaging young children with activities that model and teach friendship integrates all the elements of self-concept, as Figure 9.1 shows.Many types of activities can be used to promote friendship, pro-social skills, and a sense of community and belonging. Such activities might include those listed in Table 9.3.Previous section Next section Self-regulation links all the domains of development and is considered one of the most reliable predictors of academic and social success in later life (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007; Papalia & Feldman, 2011). It is important during early childhood because children need to learn how to delay gratification; respond and adapt to rules; and handle frustration, challenges, and disappointments in socially acceptable ways. We want them to do so not only because of the sense of satisfaction they feel when they know they are making good decisions but also because being able to control themselves sets them up as more likely to achieve success as adults.Adults promote self-regulation when, before stepping in to help, they wait to see if the child can solve a dilemma alone. That is, they wait not so long that the child becomes frustrated and angry or at risk for getting hurt but to communicate confidence that at some point they expect that the child will be able to solve problems independently.The primary goal of classroom or group-care behavior management is not for the teacher or adult to manage the children but for the children to learn how to regulate themselves. Behavior is the visible representation of the child’s effort at any given moment to integrate what he or she wants or feels with what he or she chooses to do.Many factors motivate children’s behavior and the decisions they make, and a “one size fits all” approach to classroom management is neither universally effective nor considered developmentally appropriate (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Kohn, 1999). A sound approach to guidance includes the following:When you see a child “fly off the handle,” know that the child decided to do so because it seemed the only option, whether or not the child is aware of having come to that conclusion after weighing alternatives. Brain research has revealed that when children experience prolonged or significant stress, a chemical reaction interferes with the “fight or flight” response, resulting in reactive aggression as a protective measure against a perceived threat (Bruno, 2011; Gartrell, 2011). Therefore children experiencing high levels of stress at home or in school may act out for reasons much more complex than a simple mischievous desire to break a rule or get something they want.Automatically punishing reactive aggression only serves to make the situation worse, as punishment compounds the stress that caused the behavior in the first place. Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what is going on when a situation erupts or a child consistently misbehaves, but it is important to do so in order to help the child make connections between feelings and actions so that he or she can begin to make better decisions.© Hemera / ThinkstockSelf-regulation begins in infancy, as babies gradually learn that their needs will be met by responsive adults (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). For example, the newborn cries in response to all stressors (being wet or soiled, hungry, thirsty, and so on). Over time, baby learns to wait before crying as he begins to trust that when hungry, he will soon be fed, when wet, he will be changed, and so forth. Caregivers help infants and toddlers with self-regulation by providing a context and routines that are predictable and anticipating their needs when possible so they don’t have to handle too many challenges at once. When an adult remains calm while the child is angry or crying and uses words to describe what the child might be feeling, the child learns that his feelings are acceptable.By interacting with babies and toddlers in routines—such as diapering, bathing, and feeding—and communicating what they can do to participate, adults help them to establish self-efficacy. For instance, while changing a 6-month old, the caregiver may say, “Can you lift up your bottom to help me get the dirty diaper out so we can put the new one on?” More From the FieldCritical Thinking QuestionSome infant-toddler curricula include the use of signing with preverbal infants and toddlers to begin giving them tools with which to communicate what they need or want as well as “announcing” what they might choose to do (Vallotton, 2008). For example, a 12-month-old might learn to shake his head, signifying “no,” as he approaches a hot stove, to indicate that he has learned not to touch it. Similarly, he might learn to stroke his forearm to indicate that he knows he needs to use a gentle touch.As children acquire language and become increasingly able to control their movements, early educators help preschool and primary children develop self-control by emphasizing that how they feel or what they think is not the same thing as what they choose to do. Thus adults need to first help them acknowledge or identify emotions and, second, learn how to express themselves and solve problems with words or other appropriate actions.Suppressing or denying emotions teaches children that certain feelings are not permitted, or bad, and damages the self-esteem a child needs to make difficult decisions with confidence. Children are also sometimes frightened by the intensity of their feelings. Therefore three of the most helpful skills you can develop as a teacher are close observation, active listening, and modeling how to express feelings with words.Close observation, or monitoring how children seem to be feeling and looking for signs of distress, gives you the opportunity to invite a child to open up and talk before losing control. Especially with infants and toddlers but also with older children, you focus on interpreting their body language, as sometimes children don’t know an appropriate word or the ones they do know seem inadequate to convey their feelings. As you get to know the children, you begin to recognize signals and can guess at describing how they are feeling.Particular emotions have recognizable features, such as a red face or clenched fists (anger), diverted eyes or a crumpled body (guilt), or tears (sadness) (Bruno, 2011). Picking up on these cues, you might say to a child, “Your body seems all stiff and tight; I’m wondering if you are feeling mad about something.”© iStockphoto / ThinkstockActive listening means giving a child your undivided attention and accepting what is said without judgment. You reserve your approval or disapproval and focus on how the child chooses to act on his or her feelings. Active listening conveys and models empathy—that you care about how children feel and acknowledge that their problems are real and important (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Further, if you paraphrase, or repeat back in your own words what you heard a child say, you help teach the subtle difference between lashing out with words (to hurt another in an attempt to make oneself feel better) and the more constructive process of reporting to another person how you feel as the first step in solving a problem.For example, LaToya, a 4-year-old playing in the housekeeping center, is pretending to make pancakes and goes to the refrigerator where play food is stored to get some milk. Mario is already there and takes out the very item LaToya wants. She turns to Mario, stomps her foot, and says, “No, no, stupid, that’s mine!” and then proceeds to try to take the milk away from him. The teacher steps in, saying, “LaToya, your words tell me that you are upset because Mario has something you wanted to use” (paraphrasing). The teacher might follow with, “but you hurt his feelings with the words you used; can you try again to tell him what you need and see if he can help you with that?”Teachers can model how to talk about feelings as a natural part of conversation and to let children know that experiencing a range of feelings is normal. For instance, you might describe how pleased you are that you will be going out to dinner with friends for your birthday, that you are sad at having to say goodbye to your son going off to college, or that you felt frustrated because you were in a hurry but had to wait in a long line at the grocery store.Finally, you can provide children with alternatives for expressing their feelings with words or actions that are harmless, such as:© iStockphoto / ThinkstockAs children begin to identify, acknowledge, and express their feelings, they also need practice to learn how to solve problems and resolve conflicts. Key to this process is not only actively facilitating problem resolution when conflicts are happening but also having intentional conversations with children about decision making when they are not.First, discussion provides an opportunity to think objectively and dispassionately about the kinds of problems children have or might experience. Second, children develop a shared sense of responsibility and ownership over the process. Third, identifying typical problems and brainstorming solutions provide them with resources—a “toolbox” of strategies they can draw from to try to solve problems themselves. Teachers need to keep in mind that there can be more than one appropriate response for a given situation and that children sometimes generate potential solutions that the teacher might not think of.A teacher might encourage children to generate a list of scenarios and possibly useful strategies or solutions, writing them down on a chart posted in the classroom for future reference. For instance, to resolve conflicts over toys or other objects,