2-172 - New early childhood emotional competence interventions incorporating mindfulness and emotion knowledge

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In this symposium, we will discuss preliminary results of three new early childhood emotional competence interventions, one in Australia, one in Germany, and one in the U.S. Each combines emotion understanding and mindfulness-based emotion regulation methods. The Australian toddler intervention, Tuning in to Toddlers is a downward extension of an effective parenting program that teaches parents to emotion coach their children, promoting children’s emotional competence. The program also helps parents to manage their own emotions using mindfulness, emotional self-care and exploration of their family of origin experiences with emotions. The American preschool intervention, RE-Mind (Regulation, Emotion understanding, and Mindfulness), incorporates and expands on Izard’s effective Emotions Course, which trains preschool teachers to teach their children about Happiness, Sadness, Anger, & Fear and to regulate emotion (primarily anger). RE-Mind expands the lessons on shame and exuberance and incorporates mindfulness methods to regulate under-regulated exuberance, anger, sadness, fear/anxiety, and shame. The German kindergarten and early school intervention, School-Strong, is a day camp-based intervention in which pre-service early childhood educators foster language, emotion-language, and mindfulness-based regulation skills in a population with many new immigrants. We will provide information about the interventions as well as preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of each, including effects on children and parents and on emotion understanding and executive functions. A well-respected pioneer in incorporation of mindfulness methods into interventions will discuss the papers.

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Chair

• Karen Caplovitz Barrett, Colorado State University

Discussant

• Doug Coatsworth, Colorado State University

Individual Presentations

• Preliminary outcomes of the ‘Tuning in to Toddlers’ emotion coaching parenting program - Presenting Author: Sophie Havighurst, University of Melbourne; Christiane Kehoe, University of Melbourne; Ann Harley, University of Melbourne; Rae Thomas, Centre for Research in Evidence-based Practice; Nicholas B. Allen, University of Oregon

• RE-Mind: Regulation, Emotion Knowledge, and Mindfulness - Presenting Author: Karen Caplovitz Barrett, Colorado State University; Amanda Marie Skoranski, Colorado State University

• School-Strong: A day-camp on children’s vocabulary and knowledge of emotions at the beginning of primary school - Presenting Author: Maria von Salisch, Leuphana University Lueneburg; Julia Webersik, Leuphana University Lueneburg; Philipp Radloff, Leuphana University Lueneburg