Over the last several years, there has been an increased focus on school readiness and supporting children during the preschool years to learn the skills they need to be successful in elementary school and beyond (Bowman, Donovan, Burns, et al., 2000; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). The capacity to develop positive social relationships, to concentrate and persist on challenging tasks, to effectively communicate emotions, and to problem solve are just a few of the competencies young children need to be successful as they transition to school. In this article, we describe the Teaching Pyramid (Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003), a model for promoting young children's social—emotional development and addressing children's challenging behavior and its link to critical outcomes for children, families, and early childhood programs. The Pyramid includes four components: building positive relationships with children, families, and colleagues; designing supportive and engaging environments; teaching social and emotional skills; and developing individualized interventions for children with the most challenging behavior. Given the unique characteristics of early childhood settings, implementation issues and implications of the model are a primary focus of the discussion.

We conducted a potential efficacy trial examining the effects of classroom-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Young Children’s Social-Emotional Competence on teachers’ implementation of Pyramid Model practices and children’s social-emotional skills and challenging behavior. Participants were 40 preschool teachers and 494 children. Using a randomized controlled design, 20 teachers received a professional development (PD) intervention to support their implementation of the practices. The 20 teachers in the control condition received workshops after all study-related data were collected. Teachers who received PD significantly improved their implementation of Pyramid Model practices relative to control teachers. Children in intervention teachers’ classrooms were rated as having better social skills and fewer challenging behaviors relative to children in control teachers’ classrooms. Exploratory analyses showed that children at elevated risk for behavior disorders in intervention teachers’ classrooms had improvements in their observed social interaction skills relative to similar children in control teachers’ classrooms.

This article presents results from a survey of faculty members from 2- and 4-year higher education programs in nine states that prepare teachers to work with preschool children. The purpose of the study was to determine how professors address content related to social-emotional development and challenging behaviors, how well prepared they believe graduates are to address these issues, and resources that might be useful to better prepare graduates to work with children with challenging behavior. Of the 225 surveys that were mailed, 70% were returned. Faculty members reported their graduates were prepared on topics such as working with families, preventive practices, and supporting social emotional development but less prepared to work with children with challenging behaviors. Survey findings are discussed related to differences between 2- and 4-year programs and between programs with and without a special education component. Implications for personnel preparation and future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using a constant time delay procedure to teach foundational swimming skills to three children with autism. The skills included flutter kick, front-crawl arm strokes, and head turns to the side. A multiple-probe design across behaviors and replicated across participants was used. Results of the study indicated that the constant time delay procedure was effective in teaching foundational swimming skills to the three children. Implications for future research and practice are presented.