David Hansen, Kelsey McCoy – Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, September 2021.
Social and emotional competence has a profound impact on healthy child development, and is associated with numerous outcomes that persist across the lifespan. Because children enrolled in Head Start are at an increased risk for deficits in social and emotional skills due to numerous familial risk factors across a bio-ecological framework, it is crucial to support social and emotional learning in early childhood — particularly in Head Start programs where children have an increased risk for deficits.