Social-emotional learning programmes can be effective for typically-developing children and young people in improving their social-emotional skills. This systematic literature review, evaluating peer-reviewed literature from 2007 to 2018, investigated whether these programmes are also effective for children and young people with learning…

Social skill interventions are utilised by educational psychologists (EPs) to promote positive social behaviour amongst pupils. These have predominantly occurred for target populations, rather than at the whole-class level. Research into evidence-based, whole-class interventions for social skill development is warranted. The Good Behaviour Game…

Nurture Groups (NGs) are a short term, psychotherapeutic intervention aiming to provide reparative attachment experiences for children within an educational setting. The social skills of 16 children (aged between 6.0 and 9.75 years) were assessed through teacher ratings and children's self-report to hypothetical and challenging social situations.…

This research drew on positive psychology in order to offer an optimistic way of conceptualising the lives of young people who are often described as having "SEBD" (social, emotional and behavioural difficulties), now SEMH (social, emotional, mental health) in the English 2014 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of…

The research was designed to add to the UK-based literature around the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum, a whole school emotional literacy and social competence intervention. Seven semi-structured interviews were carried out with class teachers and pastoral leads. Questionnaires were designed to explore a number of…

Recent policy developments (such as the Children's Plan) and the introduction of a new national strategy (the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme) have re-emphasised the importance of social and emotional skills in educational contexts. As such, educational psychologists are increasingly likely to be involved in the measurement of…

Social stories have been widely used for children with autism and developmental delays; however, little research has been conducted that examines their effectiveness with pre-school children who have no developmental delays. The present study investigated this previously undocumented use of social stories. Social stories were used to decrease…

This paper describes a nurture group pilot project that took place in three schools in Hampshire. Results suggested that children in the nurture groups made significant social and emotional gains after attending a group. These gains were recognised by the children themselves and their parents. They were also generalised into the classroom.…