This article reports on the features and effectiveness of a model for teaching children skills to strengthen their emotional self-regulation, informed by the developmental concept of scaffolding.
Adult modeling/instruction, role-play, and in vivo coaching were tailored to children’s level of understanding and skill to promote the use of skills in real-life contexts. A total of 226 kindergarten—3rd grade children identified with elevated behavioral and social classroom problems from a population-based screening participated in a wait-listed randomized trial of the Rochester Resilience Project derived from this model. In 14 lessons with school-based mentors, children were taught a hierarchical set of skills that included monitoring of emotions; self-control/reducing escalation of emotions; and maintaining control and regaining equilibrium. Mentors provided classroom reinforcement of skill use. Multi-level modeling accounting for the nesting of children in schools and classrooms showed the following effects at post-intervention: reduced problems rated by teachers in behavior control, peer social skills, shy-withdrawn, and off-task behaviors (ES 0.31–0.47). Peer social skills improved for girls but not for boys. Children receiving the intervention had a 46-percent mean decrease in disciplinary referrals and a 43-percent decrease in suspensions during the 4-month intervention period. Limitations and future directions to promote skill transfer are discussed. (publisher abstract modified)