Tutorial 6 · Recognizing and Supporting
the Social and Emotional Health of Young Children Birth to Age Five
Strategies to Support Social and Emotional Development in Children Three to Four Years
Early childhood mental health consultants can provide positive feedback and encouragement to parents and caregivers when they see the many experiences they already provide on behalf of young children's social and emotional health, "Ms. Johnson when you read that book to Jasper about feelings, did you see how he held onto your leg and modeled your facial expressions? You are doing such a wonderful job of using books to teach feeling labels to young children."
Reading books to young children is a good way to start teaching children emotion words. Emotional literacy is the capacity to identify, understand, and express emotions in a healthy way. Emotional literacy also includes the capacity to recognize, label, and understand feelings in self and others. It is a prerequisite to the development of more advanced social skills and for the continued maturation of emotional self- regulation.
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This website was made possible by grant number 90YD0268 from the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views or policies of the funding agency nor does publication in any way constitute an endorsement by the funding agency.
