Little Hearts Big Minds (LHBM): A Mini-Social Emotional Program for Early Primary Grades

Khushi Gandhi

Co-Presenters: Megan Dunne

College: College of Health Professions and Human Services

Major: PSYD.SCHL/CLNL

Faculty Research Mentor: Garro, Adrienne  Trindade, Jessica

Abstract:

Social-emotional competence for young children has lasting effects on academic success and well-being (Graziano et al., 2007). Children are not always equipped with the skills to manage and understand their emotions (Ashdown & Bernard, 2012). To address this issue, social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula give students the skills to identify and regulate their emotions (Mondi et al., 2021). The current project involves an example of such a curriculum- Little Hearts, Big Minds- a mini emotion-focused program for young children, emphasizing awareness and understanding of emotions.Little Hearts Big Minds (LHBM) was developed as a tier 1 intervention that consolidates research on mindfulness and emotional regulation techniques (Hemmeter et al., 2016; Sun et al., 2021). Our program was implemented in a kindergarten classroom in a metropolitan area of New Jersey. The curriculum spanned nine weeks, focusing on different emotions and skills using books and art-based activities to engage students in the lessons. Emotion awareness and recognition skills were measured through a pre-and post-test using the Assessment of Children’s Emotional Skills (ACES) Facial Expressions (Schultz et al., 2004) and the Schultz Test of Emotion Processing – Preliminary Version (STEP-P) (Schultz et al., 2010). The ACES assesses emotion attribution accuracy using facial expressions, while the STEP-P uses vignettes depicting the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in children, along with the behaviors associated with them.Data analysis involved bootstrapped paired-sample t-tests to examine potential changes in the ACES and STEP-P scores of the kindergarten students. These analyses revealed significant increases in students’ emotion recognition skills from pre- to post-test. Based on these results, we conclude that LHBM seemed to positively influence students in the kindergarten classroom where it was implemented. This helps us understand and advocate for a universal SEL curriculum, which is worthy of instructional time and an important aspect of preventive mental health care in schools.Another phase of the curriculum is currently underway in a first-grade class with additional data collection involving the STEP-P, ACES, and qualitative observations. Upon completion, we will continue to analyze and fortify the LHBM curriculum to promote future implementation.Keywords: emotion regulation; social-emotional learning; tiered interventions