Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Education (MSEd)

First Advisor

Lesley Koplow

Abstract

Looking at early childhood mental health from a policy perspective, this thesis describes practices that support children's social and emotional development and mental health prevention, intervention, and treatment approaches that can be used in preschool and elementary school settings; looks at young students' unmet mental health needs in both of these settings; and explores how schools can better address students' problem behaviors and mental health needs. To do so, it describes the field of Infant Mental Health and the supporting research; provides an overview of what the literature suggests preschools and elementary schools can do to support young children's social and emotional development and mental health; documents preschool and elementary school students' unmet mental health needs; and includes observations of current practices from three New York City schools. This thesis finds that preschools and elementary schools are not doing all they can to support students' social, emotional, and mental health needs. The field of Infant Mental Health, which is a comprehensive, collaborative, holistic, and cross-disciplinary system of mental health care for young children, offers a model of how preschools and elementary schools can better address the problem behaviors and mental health needs of our youngest students.

Comments

If you are the author of this work, and would like it removed from this repository, please email us at librarian@bankstreet.edu.

Download

Share

COinS