Neuroscientific advances demonstrate that the ages zero to five-years-old represent a critical window for learning and teaching the building blocks of emotional intelligence—namely emotional competence, self-regulation, and associated prosocial and cognitive skills such as empathy and problem-solving.
Housman Institute’s begin to ECSEL® (Emotional Cognitive Social Early Learning) approach is steeped in this knowledge, educating trained caregivers to support the growth of these core competencies and their associated skills in young children. Our results-driven approach has been shown to significantly improve these competencies that studies show to be critical to young children’s development, school readiness, and lifelong well-being and success.
We understand the connection between social and emotional learning and cognition. Foundational to young children's development is the interactions and experiences between young children and caregivers. To that end, we train caregivers through a caregiver-as-socializer model predicated on research that shows that teaching and learning are an outgrowth of human interaction—most significantly in the early years—and that regulation is deeply embedded in a young child’s relationship with a caregiver. This secure attachment relationship has been shown to be key to the child’s optimal long-term social, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as to the child’s ability to manage stress.
In our program, caregivers not only work to strengthen this relationship but also learn to utilize current emotional situations as an opportunity to teach the child more appropriate emotion regulation strategies and to support the growth of children’s social and cognitive capabilities. The core competencies that our program has been scientifically proven to improve, such as social and emotional skills and empathy, have been recognized by the OECD and others as foundational to children’s academic success.
Research also shows a strong association between empathy, emotion regulation, and positive prosocial behaviors. As Housman Institute Founder Dr. Donna Housman says: “As a society, we are seeing an alarming rise in behavioral problems, bullying, stress, anxiety, low self-esteem and lack of empathy. Our program helps to develop in students a strong sense of self, the ability to manage stress and emotions, and have empathy for, and understanding of, each other's differences — all vital not only for strengthening our own mental health but also to building a strong future for us all."
Aspen Institute, 2019
831 Beacon Street, Suite 407
Newton, MA 02459
info@housmaninstitute.org
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At Housman Institute, we believe our role is to nurture the social, emotional, and cognitive well-being of all students and educators without bias. It is critical that every child feel recognized and validated from their earliest days—to understand that their voice matters, regardless of background or experience and is being heard. We listen to, respect and support the needs of our educators as we recognize their critical role in a child's emotional growth and development. Together we need to begin the important work to help all our children and educators, as we move toward a more equitable environment for early learning, setting the stage for the building blocks of empathy and conflict resolution, and a more equitable future for us all. To learn more about how our program works to address equity in early childhood school communities... visit here.