This tutorial was developed by Kathleen Artman, Claudia Meiler, Amanda Quesenberry, and Mary Louise Hemmeter for the Center for Effective Mental Health Consultation, an Innovation and Improvement Project funded by the Office of Head Start.

About this Tutorial

Introduction
Social skills and emotional competencies are integral to young children’s learning and set the stage for success in school and in life.

A critical role of an early childhood mental health consultant (ECMHC) is to help the adults in a child’s life to recognize and nurture the social and emotional milestones of young children within their care. A critical role of an early childhood mental health consultant (ECMHC) is to help the adults in a child’s life to recognize and nurture the social and emotional milestones of young children within their care. The ECMH consultant brings a clear understanding of the trajectory of young children’s social and emotional development as well as knowledge of and skill in using strategies and resources that adults can access to adequately support young children.

Purpose and Overall Goal
The purpose of this tutorial is to provide early childhood mental health consultants with a detailed understanding of the behaviors related to social and emotional health in infants and young children as well as strategies that adult’s (parent’s and other caregivers) can use to support these behaviors within every day routines in the home and within early care and education settings.

Learning Objectives
After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:

• Define social and emotional health.
• Identify typical social and emotional milestones in young children (from birth to five years), by specific age ranges.
• Recognize risk factors for potential social and emotional concerns in young children
• Describe practices and approaches to support social and emotional development in young children
• Identify possible community resources families can access to further support social and emotional development needs

Getting Started

Time Commitment
This tutorial has five distinct modules and is designed to take about 2.5 hours in total to complete, although timing may vary from person to person. We recommend completing the modules in sequential order. This tutorial can be completed in multiple sessions as you can easily pick up where you left off at a later time.

Materials Needed
You will need a computer with internet access, and the program Windows Media Player to open the video files. You may want to keep a pen/pencil and paper handy to take notes, or to have ready access to a printer to print items that are of particular interest to you.

Glossary
Throughout this tutorial there may be words or terminology that may be new to you.  Please check our glossary by clicking on the direct link at the top of the page or in the left margin.  The glossary will open in a new window.

Special Note
Throughout this tutorial, the term “parent” is used to refer to any adult who is the primary caregiver for a child and provides ongoing support for the young child in his or her home environment. “Parent” may refer to biological/adoptive parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, foster parents, or any other steady presence in the child’s life within the child’s home(s). The term “caregiver” is used to refer to any adult that provides ongoing care for a child outside of the child’s home such as a teacher, child care provider or day care aide or support to families within the home setting such as a home visitor. The term “young children” refer to infants, toddlers and preschoolers ages birth to five years.

Questions?
If you have any questions or technical difficulties with this tutorial, please email us. Thank you and we hope you enjoy the training.