This course is being offered in an experimental format. Students are welcome to audit the course, and participate in all course activities. Certificates will not be issued.

Many early childhood educators report feeling ill equipped to meet the needs of children with challenging behavior and frustrated in their attempts to develop safe and nurturing early learning environment. If you work with young children, you are not alone in your feelings! Increasing evidence suggests that an effective approach to addressing problem behavior is the adoption of a model that focuses on promoting social-emotional development, providing support for children’s appropriate behavior, and preventing challenging behavior. In this class, you will learn a framework for addressing the social and emotional development and challenging behavior of young children.

The overarching goal of this course is to learn evidence-based practices to support the social and emotional development of infants and young children. We will read current research on the developmental trajectory of children with early-onset aggressive behaviors; positive behavior support program models; and intervention efforts that promote positive early childhood mental health. Evidence-based classroom management skills will also be studied and you will leave the course with a solid understanding of how to design supportive environments. This course incorporates a community with which you can learn from others, share your own current approaches and discuss your attempts to incorporate the learnings of this course into your early childhood practice.

When you have finished this course, you will be able to:

- Identify adult child interactions that are emotionally supportive and that build positive relationships.

- Describe classroom management skills that prevent challenging behavior and increase active engagement in early learning.

- Observe and record a functional behavior assessment of a child in an early care setting.

- Write an individualized behavior support plan based on findings from the functional behavior assessment.