Assessing Emotional and Social Competence During Preschool Years

Abstract

Why do we need to assess preschoolers’ emotional and social competence? We have made clear throughout the previous chapters that we see universal social-emotional programming as a prime goal, so that every preschooler might be exposed to the salutary effects of their caregivers’ efforts to promote secure attachments, emotion knowledge, emotion regulation, and social problem-solving abilities. Nonetheless, we also urgently wish to reach those children who need us most. To meet both goals, psychometrically excellent assessment tools are important assets; that is, for all children it is important to document the changes wrought by social-emotional programming; as we related in earlier chapters on programming, evaluation research is often still needed. Further, when endeavoring to ameliorate risk processes and augment resilience processes of children already exhibiting social and emotional deficits, assessment is essential. Whenever possible, we must know the strengths as well as the weaknesses of each child, so that we may intervene appropriately.