engleski

Social and emotional learning preventing children's behavioural problems

Behavioral problems in early childhood and preschool children have become a major point of interest for practitioners and scientists in this field. Institutions of early childhood and preschool education often report cases of hitting, pushing, disobedience, or even reticence ; all behaviors which deviate from definitions of child’s developmental phases, and as such can be characterized as behavioral problems. Worldwide researches have shown that 9% to 12% of children of early and preschool age (aged 2 to 5) manifest different forms of emotional and behavioral problems, while among that population there is an increasing number of children manifesting psychiatric syndromes. Problem detection, as well as early preventive and treatment interventions aimed at children and their families specifically are much more effective due to the unstable nature of problematic behaviors at that age. In this developmental phase, child is still learning, developing control of its behaviors and how to express difficult and unpleasant emotions. On the other hand, there is a growing number of experts and interventions which emphasize the importance of child’s social and emotional skills through education. Social and emotional learning mainly refers to the process of developing the ability to recognize and manage emotions, development of concern and interest for others, responsible decision-making, forming positive relationships and successfully handling challenging situations. This paper will present the importance of social and emotional learning and the efficiency of intervention models based on the aforementioned theory, especially in relation to the prevention of behavioral problems in preschool children.

social and emotional learning ; prevention ; behavioral problems ; preschool children

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