{"id":42687,"date":"2022-05-09T21:54:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T21:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/?p=42687"},"modified":"2022-10-27T19:02:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T19:02:30","slug":"focusing-on-early-childhood-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2022\/05\/focusing-on-early-childhood-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Focusing on early childhood mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to focus attention on the social, emotional and behavioral health of our young children.<\/p>\n

Just like their physical health, a young child\u2019s social and emotional well-being plays a big role in their ability to learn, form positive relationships, develop self-control and other important aspects of their healthy development. Young children need help to regulate their emotions. Self-regulation is an important life skill that helps children listen, wait and react calmly to things they don\u2019t want to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung children are learning how to experience, express and regulate their own emotions and understanding,\u201d said Leah Eckley, assistant director of mental health services at Southwest Human Development. \u201cThere is some trial and error, so they need to be able to experiment and learn while in a safe relationship with caring adults who can give them guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporting Mental Health in Child Care and Preschool Settings<\/strong><\/h2>\n

National data shows that pre-k children are expelled at much higher rates than K-12 students. This is a multifaceted issue, but many times expulsions occur when adults perceive children\u2019s behaviors as being too challenging for them to manage.<\/p>\n

Young children\u2019s behaviors can be difficult for adults at times. Little ones often have intense emotions which they sometimes express through behaviors like hitting, tantrums and crying, since they do not yet have the language skills to talk about their upset. And some children struggle more than others, given characteristics such as temperament or difficult experiences or life circumstances.<\/p>\n

Early childhood mental health consultation<\/strong> is designed to help early care and education professionals identify and address the mental health challenges of children they work with in child care, preschool or other group settings. Early childhood mental health consultants are professionals trained to work directly with child care providers to help them learn strategies to reduce challenging classroom behaviors, lower expulsion rates in child care programs, and help build the foundation for children’s mental health.<\/p>\n

Many child care providers enrolled in First Things First\u2019s Quality First<\/a> program have access to a mental health consultant through Smart Support<\/a>, Arizona\u2019s early childhood mental health consultation program. Smart Support is an effective and efficient strategy to enhance the capacity of early childhood providers to:<\/p>\n