Learning Resources
- Report: Cohen, J., Onunaku, N., Clothier, S., & Poppe, J. (2005, September). Helping young children succeed: Strategies to promote early childhood social and emotional development. Washington, DC: National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved from
- Paper: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Children’s emotional development is built into the architecture of their brains (Working Paper No. 2). Retrieved from
Download the PDF from this Web page.
Optional Resources
- Web Site: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
- Web Site: Zero to Three: Social Emotional Development
Social-Emotional Development
The report Helping Young Children Succeed clearly states that “early childhood social and emotional development is firmly tied to every other area of growth and development—physical growth and health, communication and language development, and cognitive skills, as well as the child’s early relationships” (Cohen, et al., 2005, p. 4). In other words, current research underscores that the way children feel is as important as the way they think.
This report identifies social-emotional skills that enable children to learn and be successful in school and later in life. These skills include:
- Confidence
- Curiosity
- Intentionality
- Self-control
- Relatedness
- Capacity to communicate
- Cooperativeness
Carefully consider what each of these skills has meant in your life and in the lives of others, including children whom you know well. How have strengths in these areas helped you and people you know grow and learn? How have challenges in these areas held people back? Based on what you have read and learned in the course so far, complete the following:
By Day 7 of Week 4
Post your response to the following question:
- How would you explain to a parent or coworker who doesn’t see the value of fostering social-emotional development why it is integral to children’s success in school and later in life?
