The purpose of this article is to investigate the efficacy of Sandplay Therapy (SPT) in reducing children's kindergarten entrance anxiety in an effort to provide front-line preschool teachers with insights and strategies for addressing the emotional distress of children in their first days of nursery school. As a case study, the application of SPT…

Japan's Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program Academic Readiness (AR) lesson aims to improve self-regulation, executive function, and behavior problems in kindergarten children, but the effects of the START program AR lessons in unfavorable circumstances are unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the…

Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is an evidence-based, indirect service delivery model that addresses children's behavioral concerns across home and school. However, to date, researchers have not yet examined specific aspects of the intervention that maximize the effects of CBC. The current study examined whether a foundational aspect of…

Disruptive behavior disorders in childhood are increasingly pervasive and associated with numerous, negative long-term outcomes. The current study examined whether adding a brief, home-visitation intervention to an existing, multi-component (child and teacher) intervention, would improve social-emotional and behavioral outcomes for young children…

Although school-based preventive parenting interventions have been found to promote children's social-emotional skill development and behavioral functioning, it is important to understand potential barriers to engagement in such programs to ensure that intervention access is equitable and likely to reach those who could most benefit. In the…

Conflict situations occur in daily life in kindergarten. Often children find solutions by negotiations and compromises, but sometimes they also can use physical force against each other. The focus in this article is kindergarten practitioners' interventions in conflict situations when children use physical force and do not stop when they are told.…

This pilot study provides a preliminary evaluation of the newly adapted one-to-one version of Tuning in to Kids (TIK), using a randomised-controlled design. One hundred and seven parents of a child aged between four and ten with parent-identified behaviour problems participated. Parent emotion socialisation, parental reflective functioning (PRF),…

Identifying correlates of aggressive behavior in children might help to find potential candidates for interventions in aggression reduction. While some previous studies found that children's Theory of Mind (ToM) and inhibitory control (IC) correlate with aggressive behavior, others did not confirm this relation. One explanation for these mixed…

Background: A large evidence base suggests that without effective early intervention, young children who exhibit persistent challenging behavior often face a host of long-term social and academic challenges (Bulotsky-Shearer & Fantuzzo, 2011; Hauser-Cram & Woodman, 2016; Kazdin, 1995; Lane et al., 2008; Miller et al., 2017). Challenging…

Evidence points to the possibility of promoting executive functions (EF) through school interventions. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of this type of intervention in situations of social vulnerability. This study investigated the effectiveness of an EF intervention program applied with a sample of preschool children, in a…

Background: Strong connections between children's teachers and their parents fosters their learning and development in early childhood and throughout their schooling. Developing strong connections in preschool may ease the transition to elementary school for children. Objective: The goal of this study is to examine the initial implementation of…

Background: Strong connections between children's teachers and their parents fosters their learning and development in early childhood and throughout their schooling. Developing strong connections in preschool may ease the transition to elementary school for children. Objective: The goal of this study is to examine the initial implementation of…

This study reports results of a randomized, controlled trial examining the efficacy of the Family Check-Up (FCU) initiated during kindergarten on teacher report of children's emotional and behavior problems in first and second grade. Children's emotional and behavior needs and the receipt of special services in school at pretest were examined as…

This study investigated the use of a playful, narrative, vignette-based method, called Story Magician's Play Time (SMPT), in supporting children's social-emotional reasoning and in helping children practice their social skills. We set out to examine (a) in what ways children use SMPT sessions to explore social interaction situations and to…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with social play. They have some limitations in learning play skills and playing with peers. This study examines the effects of intervention, in an inclusive classroom, based on ecological assessment and conditions of social play selection on the engagement in social play of a…