Kenneth W. Merrell, Ph.D., is a professor of school psychology in the Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. His research and scholarly work in social-emotional assessment and intervention in schools has been published widely. In addition to his academic experience, Dr. Merrell worked for 3 years as a school psychologist and has had extensive experience in providing psychological services and consultation in schools.

Sara A. Whitcomb, Ed.M., is a doctoral candidate in school psychology at the University of Oregon. She collaborates in curriculum development and research efforts with the Oregon Resiliency Project. Her professional interests include promoting mental health and positive behavioral support systems in schools. Ms. Whitcomb spent 6 years as a teacher in special education, kindergarten, and first-grade settings.

Danielle M. Parisi, M.S., is a doctoral candidate in school psychology at the University of Oregon. Her professional interests include improving academic and social outcomes for students through promotion of systems-level prevention and early intervention efforts. Ms. Parisi has experience in assessment, teaching, planning interventions, and consultation around both individual student and systems-level issues. She has worked in Head Start, preschool, elementary school, and middle school settings.

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A: Social and emotional learning provides students with critical life skills that are every bit as important as academic skills, need to be taught directly just like academic skills, and in fact, help promote academic learning. Children begin to learn social-emotional skills even while they are infants, and preschool is an ideal time to begin to formally promote learning in this area.

Q: Strong Start—Pre-K is part of the larger Strong Kids series ... how do the social and emotional learning needs of preschool-aged children differ from those of other kids?

A: Preschool-age children have very specific social and emotional learning needs. Most children at this age are beginning to learn to interact with people outside of their family, and exploring formal play with other children. And although they may not have the words to describe a range of emotions yet, young children certainly experience a wide range of emotions. Ages 3-5 is a great time to begin to enhance children's emotional vocabulary and to help them formally explore the basics of making friendships work.

Q: Who is Henry Bear?

A: Henry Bear is a character that is used in each Strong Start lesson, through examples, stories, and visuals, to help introduce activities and concepts. We recommend that teachers actually bring in a stuffed toy bear to use in modeling when they get to the Henry Bear parts of the lessons. The idea for Henry came from my co-author Sara Whitcomb, a former kindergarten teacher. Sara used a mascot stuffed toy animal in her classrooms (and named it Henry) for introducing activities, and the kids loved it! In piloting the curriculum we have found that both teachers and children really enjoy this part of the lessons. Of course, you can name your own mascot something other than Henry, but that is the name we use in the lessons.

Q: Can you give an example of a challenge faced by a young child and how the child can apply skills learned through the Strong Start—Pre-K program to successfully manage the situation?

A: A common social-emotional challenge that young children are faced with is delaying their impulses to act out in a certain way when they are upset or frustrated. As we all know, acting quickly before you think when you are in a stressful situation can lead to consequences that can be unpleasant or even hurtful. One of the tools we use throughout several of the Strong Start lessons is the "stop, count, in, out" technique that we developed to help children learn to delay acting out when they are under stress.

The stop part of the technique involves the use of a picture of a stop sign as a reminder to stop whatever course of action they are involved in before it gets out of hand. The count part involves counting to 10, as a way to delay acting impulsively. The in and out parts involve taking a deep breath in, and then letting it out slowly. Essentially, this technique is a delay and relaxation sequence that can help children act out impulsively. The curriculum includes pictures and handouts (that can be made into posters) for this technique.

Q: Using the same example, can you explain the role the teacher and the parent can play to help reinforce the child's skills?

A: In the "stop, count, in, out" technique, the teacher would formally introduce the concept, model it for the kids, and then have them practice it. It recurs throughout several of the lessons, so the kids get plenty of practice and the teacher has the opportunity to encourage them and correct errors as they occur. Parents can get involved through the home notes that the teacher can send home after each lesson. These home notes are part of the program, like a weekly letter to parents. The techniques the kids are learning are explained to parents in this letters, so they will know what is going on and so they can encourage their child's learning at home.

Q: How did your own interest in children's social and emotional learning develop?

A: I became interested in social and emotional development and learning of children when I was in my teens, and worked as a camp counselor with younger kids. That interest ultimately led me to study education and psychology in college and graduate school, and to specialize in this area as a scholar. I also have four children of my own (now teens and young adults), so I have firsthand experience.

I previously worked as a school psychologist in a public school district, and had some responsibility to consult with teachers of special classroom programs for young children, which was a great learning experience. There's nothing like seeing a great teacher in action working with young kids—it is an art as well as a science. My Strong Start co-authors, Sara Whitcomb and Danielle Parisi, both have experience working in kindergarten, preschool, and Head Start programs. Sara has two young children of her own at home, and she actually practiced some of the techniques we developed with her older son as a way of testing them out!

Q: What is your estimation of the state of social and emotional learning in schools today and how would you like to see it evolve in the future?

A: Social and emotional learning is a great idea and in my view a necessary part of education, but it has yet to catch on in a big way, so I think we are still at the beginning stages of this field. Personally, I would like to see social-emotional learning integrated into every grade across the preschool through high school age range—it's that important.

Children and families in today's complicated world have many challenges, and social-emotional learning has the potential to increase our ability to cope with stress, to solve problems, to understand our emotions and behavior, and to be better friends and better family members. I look forward to the day when social and emotional is woven into the fabric of our schools with reading, writing, math, and the rest.