• Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Miller, S. L. (2017, December). Early childhood teachers’ socialization of emotion: Contextual and individual contributors. In Child & Youth Care Forum (Vol. 46, pp. 805-824

• Teachers’ Emotion Socialization Beliefs and Practices 

  • Morris, C. A., Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Curby, T. W. (2013). Relations among teachers’ emotion socialization beliefs and practices and preschoolers’ emotional competence. Early Education & Development, 24(7), 979-999.

• Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy 

  • Gottman, J. M., Katz, L. F., & Hooven, C. (1996). Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data. Journal of Family Psychology, 10(3), 243.

• Update on Social and Emotional Learning Outcome Research 

  • Mahoney, J. L., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2018). An update on social and emotional learning outcome research. Phi Delta Kappan, 100(4), 18-23.

• Lozada, F. T., Halberstadt, A. G., Craig, A. B., Dennis, P. A., & Dunsmore, J. C. (2016). Parents’ beliefs about children’s emotions and parents’ emotion-related conversations with their children. Journal of child and Family Studies, 25, 1525-1538.

• Racial/Ethnic Emotion Socialization

  • Dunbar, A. S., Leerkes, E. M., Coard, S. I., Supple, A. J., & Calkins, S. (2017). An integrative conceptual model of parental racial/ethnic and emotion socialization and links to children's social‐emotional development among African American families. Child Development Perspectives, 11(1), 16-22.

• Preparation for Bias

  • Dunbar, A. S., Lozada, F. T., Ahn, L. H., & Leerkes, E. M. (2022). Mothers’ preparation for bias and responses to children’s distress predict positive adjustment among Black children: An attachment perspective. Attachment & Human Development, 24(3), 287-303.

• Black Emotions Matter: Understanding the Impact of Racial Oppression

  • Lozada, F. T., Riley, T. N., Catherine, E., & Brown, D. W. (2022). Black emotions matter: Understanding the impact of racial oppression on Black youth’s emotional development: Dismantling systems of racism and oppression during adolescence. Journal of research on adolescence, 32(1), 13-33.

The purpose of this position statement is to clarify the role of the service, Special Instruction, and its providers (referred to as “early intervention educators” in this paper) within the broader field of IDEA (2004) Part C early intervention (EI). Aligned with federal requirements, this statement focuses on this service as it is provided to families of eligible infants and toddlers with developmental delays and disabilities. The following topics are discussed: (a) how special instruction is defined and described in federal law and in practice, (b) recommendations for professional preparation and qualifications of EI educators (c) the role of EI educators in each part of the EI process, and (d) how special instruction and EI Educators are distinct from other EI services. An appendix is included to specify what special instruction is and is not when implemented using best practices.

DEC is grateful to the Chair of the position statement workgroup, Dr. Dana Childress; the full writing team; and all who contributed to this work.

by Allison Posey (Author), Katie Novak (Author)