Preschool Initiative
DCRC’s Preschool Initiative focuses on promoting the healthy social and emotional development of young children ages 3 through 5 years old. The centerpiece of the approach to promote resilience in preschoolers is the use of a nationally standardized, strength-based measure of within-child protective factors. The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers may be completed by both parents and caregivers and provides reliable and valid data to promote young children’s social and emotional development.
Strategy resources for professionals and families are designed to ensure that screening and assessment data is incorporated into planning efforts for the home and care settings that strengthen children’s protective factors. All of the resources support adults in understanding the following:
- Why a focus on fostering resilience is so critical at this age
- How to collect information that will inform strategy implementation to optimize a child’s social and emotional development
- How all adults working with the child and family can collaborate to work effectively as a team
- How to continually evaluate the status of resilience building efforts to ensure that the desired outcomes are being achieved
DCRC’s Preschool Initiative focuses on supporting professionals and communities in creating effective resilience building systems. While most commonly implemented within early care and education settings, community mental health initiatives and school readiness programs have also successfully incorporated the resources into their overall program design. DCRC Preschool specialists offer a variety of training and technical assistance options that help ensure that effective implementation is supported and individualized to meet the unique needs of specific programs and communities.
