Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in Preschool Children

Child task: Emotional knowledge is measured by Assessment of Children's Emotions Skills (ACES; Schultz, et al., 2001) accuracy score. One point was given for each correct response. The 10 faces with clear emotional expressions were used for this scale score. The maximum score was 10, indicating excellent emotional knowledge.

Child task: Emotional awareness is measured by the Challenging Situations Task (Denham et al., 1994) score called Label Emotional responses (sum score across four situations, with one point given for each correct response).

Child task: Social problem solving is measured by the Challenging Situations Task scores for competent, aggressive, and inept responses. For each category of response, a maximum of four was possible.

Child task: inhibitory control as measured by number of correct responses on the Knock & Tap task from NEPSY (Korkman et al., 1998). Possible range of scores was 0 to 30, with high scores indicating good inhibitory control.

Child task: accuracy score on an adapted version of the Day-Night task (Gerstadt et al., 1994). Possible range of scores was 0 to 48, with high scores indicating good inhibitory control.

Child task: accuracy score on the Word span task as an index of working memory (Tillman et al., 2008). The score was calculated as the sum of correctly remembered words in the right order, maximum of 30 points, with high scores indicating good working memory.

Teachers rated Prosocial/communication skills using the Social Competence Scale (SCS; Sorensen et al., 2016). Mean score was calculated, with items rated from 0 to 4. High mean score indicated good skills.

Teachers rated Child's Emotional self-regulation using the Social Competence Scale (SCS; Sorensen et al., 2016). Mean score was calculated, with items rated from 0 to 4. High mean score indicated good skills.

Teachers rated Child's Academic skills using the Social Competence Scale (SCS; Sorensen et al., 2016). Mean score was calculated, with items rated from 0 to 4. High mean score indicated good skills.

Observer ratings: Observers rated Prosocial skills of children across two standardized play situations, ratings were seven items from the Prosocial/communication skills subscale of the SCS. The seven items on this scale were rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (Not At All) to 5 (Very Well). Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating good skills.

Observer ratings: Task orientation of children was rated on a Task Orientation scale (adapted from Smith-Donald et al., 2007). Interviewers used this scale to rate the child's ability to sustain attention across the performed tasks children. Interviewers rated nine items on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (Not True At All) to 4 (Very True). Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating good skills.

Teacher ratings: Children's social cooperation skills were rated by teachers using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS; Merrell, 1996). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating good skills.

Teacher ratings: Children's social interaction skills were rated by teachers using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS; Merrell, 1996). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating good skills.

Teacher ratings: Children's social independence skills were rated by teachers using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS; Merrell, 1996). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating good skills.

Teacher ratings: Social withdrawal using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS; Merrell, 1996). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating a high level of social withdrawal.

Teacher ratings: Anxiety/somatic problems using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS; Merrell, 1996). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating a high level of anxiety/somatic problems.

Teacher ratings: Aggression using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS; Merrell, 1996). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating a high level of aggression.

Teacher ratings: Inattention using the ADHD Rating Scale - IV (DuPaul, Power, Anastopoulos & Reid, 1998). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating a high level of inattention problems.

Teacher ratings: Hyperactivity/Impulsivity using the ADHD Rating Scale - IV (DuPaul, Power, Anastopoulos & Reid, 1998). Likert scale ranging from 0 to 3. Mean score was calculated, with a high mean score indicating a high level of hyperactivity/impulsivity problems.