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Enhancing Mental Health & Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
This podcast is geared towards early childhood professionals and strategic partners, hoping to use research to inform policy and better serve children, families, and their communities. This series features state leaders and national experts who discuss early childhood policy and efforts supporting the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five initiatives happening across the country.
Each episode focuses on topics including the development of strategic partnerships, establishing financing models for mixed delivery and coordinating eligibility and enrollment processes across agencies and across states. Tune in for an informative and engaging look at early childhood policy initiatives and learn from the nation's top early childhood professionals and leaders.
The first series of podcast episodes focuses on mental health and social emotional learning. Each of the five episodes focuses on an essential aspect related to this topic.
Episode 1: Early Childhood Policy Matters - An Introduction
In this introductory episode, Dr. Neal Horen, Director of the Early Childhood Division at the Center for Child and Human Development, discusses the nuts and bolts of early childhood mental health and provides an overview of the subsequent episodes in this series.
Episode 2: Getting Started with early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
In episode two, Dr. Horen speaks with leaders in California and New York to learn about the different approaches to establishing early childhood mental health consultation in their state.
Episode 3: Implementing Mental Health Services and Supports: Common Approaches
In the third episode, Dr. Neal Horen speaks with Dr. Nikki Edge about the implementation of Arkansas’ early childhood mental health consultation system. Later, Dr. Todd Grindal, Senior Researcher at SRI International, speaks with Dr. Mary Louise Hemmeter about the Pyramid Model. In each interview, these experts discuss the strengths, challenges, and lessons learned with their models as well as key partnerships for successful implementation.
Episode 4: Addressing Common Challenges at the Practitioner Level
In episode four, Dr. Horen speaks with two early childhood mental health practitioners to learn about the common challenges and strategies of providers in this field.
Episode 5: Components of a Successful Statewide Early Childhood System
In this episode, Dr. Horen speaks with state-level early childhood mental health specialists to learn how their states incorporated early childhood mental health into their mixed delivery systems and the benefits they bring to children and families.
During the opening session for A Comprehensive Approach to Behavioral and Social-Emotional Health strand, presenters outlined important considerations for state program administrators designing an early childhood system that supports the social-emotional learning and mental health of young children and their families. The session also presented a framework for how multiple early childhood service programs fit within a larger early childhood system of care.
This brief gives an overview of infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) for policymakers and program leaders, summarizing its state of research and implementation efforts. IECMHC is a prevention-oriented, multilevel intervention in which mental health professionals with training in early child development are paired with the caregivers of young children to build adult’s capacities to support children’s social-emotional development and address challenging behavior.
Additional Resources
Type of product: research to practice brief
Brief description: This resource is a research to practice brief that describes information about early childhood trauma and its effects, offers evidence-based strategies for early childhood education (ECE) programs and systems to help young children who have experienced trauma, and presents recommendations for state policymakers and other stakeholders to support trauma-informed early childhood education.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this research to practice brief to develop policies to support trauma-informed early childhood education and refer ECE programs to this brief for guidance on trauma-informed care.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: research to practice brief
Brief description: This resource is a research to practice brief that synthesizes findings from experimental evaluations of 50 programs to address problem behaviors in early childhood (birth to age five). It summarizes the characteristics of programs that were more likely to show significant effects on internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Most of the evaluations focused on preschool children. Programs are categorized into those that work, those with mixed impacts, and those that do not work.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this research to practice brief to determine whether programs designed to reduce internalizing or externalizing behaviors have design characteristics that have been shown to be effective. The information can be used in planning for program improvement and monitoring progress in program improvement activities.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: web page
Brief description: This resource is a Zero to Three resource web page that focuses on preventing expulsion from preschool and childcare. It includes videos from congressional briefings on implicit bias and preschool expulsion. The resources also include articles and reports for policymakers and advocates that present data and policy guidance around preschool suspension and expulsion.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this the web page to gain knowledge about preschool suspension and expulsion and to develop policies, guidance, and trainings related to early childhood suspension and expulsion.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: guidebook
Brief description: This resource is a guidebook to help educators select preschool and elementary social-emotional learning programs. It rates 25 social-emotional learning (SEL) programs using a systematic framework. The framework includes grade level, setting, and supports for professional development and implementation. The guide identifies well-designed, evidence-based SEL programs with potential for broad dissemination in preschool programs.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this guidebook to assist programs, schools, and districts in gaining knowledge about evidence-based SEL programs.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: guidebook
Brief description: This resource is an implementation guidebook that contains information and tools leading school-based teams through a process for systemic social-emotional learning (SEL) implementation. It helps schools coordinate and build upon SEL practices and programs with four focus areas: building foundational support, building adult SEL, promoting SEL for students, and engaging in continuous improvement. The implementation guidebook includes a Schoolwide SEL Implementation Rubric.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this guidebook to work with school leaders who wish to coordinate and build upon SEL practices and programs toward schoolwide SEL implementation.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: video
Brief description: This resource is an informational video for parents on social and emotional learning (SEL). The video aims to inform parents about social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools and provide them with insights on SEL in their own parenting practices.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can refer centers and educators to this video to provide an introduction to SEL for parents or other caregivers who are new to SEL. Program staff can use this video as part of their overall implementation of an SEL program.
Level: introductory
Type of product: web page
Brief description: This resource is web page with a collection of tools to help states get started in developing standards, policies, programs, and communities of learning to support social and emotional learning (SEL) implementation. The resources are organized by four focal areas: planning, adult SEL, student SEL, and continuous improvement.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use these resources to support implementation of quality SEL at the state level. States can use these tools to inform their own work, learn how their peers are addressing similar issues, and customize the materials for their own use.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: guidebook
Brief description: This resource is an interactive guidebook that program leaders can use to find resources on supporting social-emotional development, reducing challenging behavior, and recognizing the role of cultural differences and implicit biases.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this guidebook to develop policies and guidance related to supporting children's social-emotional development. States can also refer programs to the self-assessment that helps programs to reflect on policies, practices, and needs related to supporting children's social-emotional development. Programs can use the self-assessment as part of their continuous quality improvement efforts in this area.
Level: introductory
Type of product: report summary of relevant measures
Brief description: Despite the fact that this report dates back to 2008, it still contains a relevant list of instruments for screening and assessing young children's social and emotional development. The instruments are categorized by whether they measure multiple domains or focus solely on the social-emotional domain and whether they must be administered by professionals or can be administered by family members/ caregivers. Instrument descriptions include age range, administration time, scoring procedure, and psychometric properties. This list of instruments was gathered through a review of the infant mental health literature, states’ Part C and Part B–Section 619 websites (early intervention and early childhood special education) , screening and assessment texts, and publishers’ websites.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this report to gain knowledge about appropriate screening and developmental assessment measures to use in in their early childhood funded programs.
Level: advanced
Type of product: research to practice brief
Brief description: This resource is a research to practice brief that recommends a 14-step process for developing, implementing, and sustaining state policies and guidelines to support social and emotional learning (SEL). Examples include identifying the need, drafting SEL policies or guidelines, and sharing the policies or guidelines with stakeholders.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: Although developed for schools, a PDG B-5 Grantee can adapt this research to practice brief to develop and implement statewide SEL policies and practices for its early childhood system.
Level: introductory
Type of product: research to practice brief
Brief description: This research to practice brief summarizes conversations with district and state leaders resulting in seven recommendations for creating statewide conditions that facilitate evidence-based approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools and districts.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: Although developed for schools, a PDG B-5 Grantee can use this research to practice brief to adapt the recommendations for their own statewide planning about strategies for supporting evidence-based SEL implementation in its early care and education programs and system.
Level: introductory
Type of product: research to practice brief
Brief description: This resource is a research to practice brief that offers 4 recommendations for how state agencies can measure and promote social and emotional learning (SEL) in accountability and continuous improvement plans.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: Although developed for schools, a PDG B-5 Grantee can also use this research to practice brief to build accountability and continuous improvement plans that foster SEL within the early childhood system.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: module
Brief description: This Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) learning module, developed for use in Head Start programs, highlights the role of the infant and early childhood mental health consultant (IECMHC). The interactive module is divided into lessons with realistic scenarios and short video clips.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this module to gain knowledge about to how to build out their mental health consultation program at a state level and/or understand community level programs that might be able to expand mental health consultation models.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: web page and toolkit
Brief description: This resource is a web page with a set of resources including an evaluation toolkit that is a start-to-finish, easy-to-understand guide to conducting high-quality evaluations of Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation programs. Tips and examples are provided for each stage of the evaluation process, including articulating a logic model, selecting appropriate measures, and applying findings to quality improvement and advocacy efforts. The web page also includes resources about a theory of change (i.e., national leaders in IECMHC practice and policy articulated an overarching conceptualization for the manner in which IECMHC produces positive outcomes for children, families, and programs, highlighting important activities, attitudes, and characteristics for those involved) and sample program evaluations.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this set of resources to develop and implement evaluations of their state’s mental health consultation programs and services as part of their program performance evaluation plan.
Level: intermediate
Type of product: discussion guide
Brief description: This resource is a discussion guide by the National Association of School Psychologists that provides a list of recommendations to support children during COVID-19 times, particularly in terms of social emotional impacts.
How Grantee would use product to support grant activities: A PDG B-5 Grantee can use this guide to gain knowledge and information to develop policies and guidance to support children’s social-emotional well-being. Such guidance and recommendations can be distributed on various state websites for families and educators/providers and incorporated into trainings and other supports offered by the state CCR&R and technical assistance providers who provide professional development opportunities for educators.
Level: introductory
