Social and Emotional
Development
Agenda
Responsive Caregiving
Attachment
Self-Awareness
Emotional Development and Self Regulation
Relationships with Others
Promoting Positive Interactions
Inclusion
Objectives
Describe secure attachment and explain the
caregiver’s role
Create a strategy for responsive caregiving
in a stressful situation
List 4-5 classroom materials that can promote
self-awareness
Compile best practices for peaceful and appropriate
transitions
Develop an inclusion strategy for a child with
special needs
Responsive Caregiving
Observe the
child’s needs
Respond
appropriately
Child receives the
response
and needs are met
Attachment
Caregiver Behavior
• Responds appropriately, promptly,
and consistently to needs
• Little or no response to distressed child
• Discourages crying and encourages
independence
Attachment
Style
Child Behavior
Secure
• Uses caregiver as secure base in
exploration
• Distressed when caregiver leaves,
happy when they return
• Seeks caregiver in stressful situations
Avoidant
• Little affective sharing in play
• Little or no distress on departure
• Child may be rebellious and has a
lower self-image and self-esteem
•
• Inconsistent between appropriate and
neglectful responses
• Generally responds only after
increased attachment behavior from
the infant
• Frightened or frightening behavior,
abusive or neglectful
Ambivalent/
Resistant
Disorganized
•
•
•
Preoccupied with caregiver's
availability
Seeks contact but resists angrily when
it is achieved
Not easily calmed by stranger
Always anxious because caregiver's
availability is never consistent.
• Displays no attachment behaviors
towards caregiver
Trust and Emotional Security
Indicators:
• Establishes secure relationships with primary caregiver
• Differentiates between familiar and unfamiliar adults
• Shows emotional connections and attachment to others
while beginning to show independence
Responsive Caregiving
0-8 Months
• Hold, cuddle, and laugh with infants
• Hold infants during bottle feeding time;
talk to them in a calm and soothing tone
• Notice, understand, and follow the
signals of infants, such as cries of hunger
or pain, turning away when full, or when
ready to stop interacting
• Display courteousness, warmth,
and sensitivity when interacting with
adults and children
Responsive Caregiving
8-18 Months
• Notice and be responsive to words, gestures, laughs, and cries
• Stay close and visible while infants explore
• Reassure them that you will return, explaining where you are going
and when you will be back
• Introduce them to new people and allow them time to become
comfortable.
18-36 Months
• Provide encouragement for trying activities and playing with new people
• Accept that toddlers will need comfort items
Responsive Caregiving
36-48 Months
• Connect with three-year-olds on a
daily basis, such as naptime or
arrival
• Respond with affection and care
when approached by an upset
or hurt three-year olds
• Encourage independence and
participation in new situations
(“Go ahead, you can do it!”)
Self-Awareness
Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Age
Developmental Stage
Birth – 12 months
Trust vs. Mistrust
1-3 years
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
A stage theory of development based on
the mastery of one stage in order to
successfully progress to the next.
Self-Awareness
• A clear and positive Sense of
Self and identity
• Self-Recognition of the baby
in the mirror
• Identifying the Categorical
Self in social contexts
• The Looking-Glass Self is
understanding self based on
the responses of others
Self-Awareness
Indicators:
• Expresses needs and wants through facial expressions,
sounds, or gestures
• Develops awareness of self as separate from others
• Shows confidence in increasing abilities
• Shows awareness of relationship to family/ community/
cultural group
Early Emotional Development
At birth, infants can express contentment, distress, and interest.
Within 6 months emotions begin to evolve from those.
Distress
Sadness
Anger
Fear
Birth
3 Months
4 Months
5 Months
Guilt and
Shame
24
Months
Self -Regulation
Indicators
• Begins to manage own behavior and demonstrates
increasing control of emotion
• Shows ability to cope with stress
• Develops understanding of simple routines, rules or
limitations
Self-Regulation
Caregivers can support self-regulation by:
• Having realistic expectations of behavior
• Not identifying a child by a negative behavior
• Point out strengths and positive qualities
• Balance the routine and the room arrangement
with high-energy and peaceful activities and spaces
• Use emotion words to help describe feelings
• Be respectful of physical needs
Relationships with Others
Indicators of relationship development:
• Shows interest in and awareness of others
• Responds to and interacts with others
• Begins to recognize and respond to the feelings and
emotions of others and begins to show concern
Caregiver Responses
Learning Environment
• Create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation
• Room arrangement provides clues for behavior
• Engaging and interesting materials keep children busy
with play and learning
• Organization promotes self-help skills and cooperation
Caregiver Responses
Routines
• Consistent from day to day
• Provide a logical and predictable order of events
• Appropriately flexible for the needs of the children
Transitions
• Use consistent signals for transition
• Create logical transitions during natural breaks in activity
• Eliminate all waiting time
Caregiver Responses
Interactions
• Build a relationship with the child
• Provide valid choices
• Redirect to a specific activity
• Avoid power struggles
Inclusion
Aggression
ADHD
Social-communication
deficits
Autism Spectrum
Disorders
Restricted interests and
repetitive behaviors
Expressive/receptive
language disorders
Intellectual disabilities
Social
Anxiety
Inclusion Strategies
• Modify environment
• Adjust expectations
• Provide visual supports
– Project cards
– Picture schedules
• Communication
• Provide appropriate choices
• Create a reward system
Snack
Read
Home
Conclusion
• Action Plan
• Q&A