Individual and organizational factors associated with teacher self-reported implementation of the PATHS curriculum.

The current study examined a comprehensive set of individual and organizational factors as potential predictors of how the Promoting Alternative THinking (PATHS) Curriculum was implemented by teachers in an urban Midwestern school district. The study used data from a randomized trial of an implementation support model conducted in 28 urban elementary schools. All schools implemented PATHS in grades K-3.

Applying Mindfulness-Based Practices in Child Psychiatry.

Mindfulness-based interventions for adults, children, and families have grown considerably, and burgeoning evidence supports use of these approaches for a range of clinical presentations, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and addiction. Research into the mechanisms of mindfulness suggests improvements in key brain-based functions including attentional control and emotional regulation. Mindfulness may be relevant for improving emotional and behavioral symptoms in children and families presenting for psychiatric care and also may be an important universal strategy to promote brain health.

Helping Head Start Parents Promote Their Children's Kindergarten Adjustment: The Research-Based Developmentally Informed Parent Program.

Head Start enhances school readiness during preschool, but effects diminish after children transition into kindergarten. Designed to promote sustained gains, the Research-based Developmentally Informed (REDI) Parent program (REDI-P) provided home visits before and after the kindergarten transition, giving parents evidence-based learning games, interactive stories, and guided pretend play to use with their children. To evaluate impact, two hundred 4-year-old children in Head Start REDI classrooms were randomly assigned to REDI-P or a comparison condition (mail-home math games).

Dimensions of Parenting Associated with Child Prekindergarten Emotion Regulation and Attention Control in Low-income Families.

Delays in emotion regulation and attention control are common among children growing up in poverty, and they contribute to significant socio-economic gaps in school readiness and later school attainment. In this study, the emotion regulation and attention control skills of 210 prekindergarten Head Start participants were assessed ( age = 4.80 years old).

Effects of Parent and Child Pre-Intervention Characteristics on Child Skill Acquisition during a School Readiness Intervention.

200 preschool children in Head Start (55% girls; 20% Hispanic, 25% African-American, 55% European American; age = 4.80 years old) participated in a randomized-controlled trial of a home visiting intervention designed to promote their emergent literacy skills (the Research-based Developmentally Informed parent [REDI-P] program). This study explored concurrent changes in levels of parent support and child literacy skills that occurred over the course of the intervention, and examined the impact of pre-intervention parent support and child literacy skills as potential moderators of parent and child outcomes.

The impact of mindfulness education on elementary school students: Evaluation of the Program.

Children need to be equipped with the skills to respond effectively to stress and prevent poor decision-making surrounding alcohol and tobacco use. Training and practice in mindfulness is one possible avenue for building children's skills. Recent research has revealed that mindfulness education in the classroom may play a role in enhancing children's self-regulatory abilities.

How is this child feeling? Preschool-aged children's ability to recognize emotion in faces and body poses.

The study examined children's recognition of emotion from faces and body poses, as well as gender differences in these recognition abilities. Preschool-aged children ( = 55) and their parents and teachers participated in the study. Preschool-aged children completed a web-based measure of emotion recognition skills, which included five tasks (three with faces and two with bodies).