In a February 2015 profile in The Hechinger Report of Laura Wiley, an early childhood mental health consultant in Chicago, Sarah Neufeld describes Wiley's job as listening to adults so they can create emotionally healthy environments for children. Wiley trains teachers and others who work with young children to recognize trauma, which so often causes misbehavior. She supports teachers in confronting cultural biases, and in forging relationships with parents, showing how to recognize families' strengths and promote mental wellness before problems develop. Adverse childhood experiences like violence and family dysfunction predict everything from academic failure to cancer and heart disease. In 2005, Yale professor Walter Gilliam published the first research showing preschoolers are expelled at three times the rate of children in kindergarten through 12th grade, with young African-American boys most vulnerable. He realized the issue can't improve unless teachers receive help managing challenging behavior, and has zeroed in on consultation intervention as promising and cost-effective. A recent study found it reduced preschool expulsions by half. It also improves children's emotional well-being in the pivotal years before kindergarten, and boosts staff retention and job satisfaction in an industry with rampant turnover. Consultation is now being tried in home visiting programs, domestic violence shelters, pediatrician's offices -- anywhere serving young children. Other efforts are taking similar services to older kids. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.