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New Social Enterprise Aperture Education Focuses on Students’ Social and Emotional Competence

Charlotte N.C. (Jan. 26, 2017)—Assessment company Apperson, Inc., and the Devereux Center for Resilient Children – a prevention-focused service of the nonprofit organization Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health – today announced the launch of a new company, Aperture Education, that provides strength-based assessments and resilience-building resources to help schools and out-of-school-time organizations address the whole child. >Read more

Apperson Updates Its Social & Emotional Assessment Tool

Charlotte, NC (July 2016) – Assessment leader Apperson today announced major updates to its award-winning Evo Social & Emotional (SEL) online assessment tool. Evo SEL 2.0 enhances an already sophisticated tool by adding a fresh new look, streamlined functions for both administrators and educators and improved efficiency, making it faster and easier to screen students for social and emotional competencies. >Read more

Tools to Assess Social and Emotional Learning in Schools

By Susanne Denham: Social and emotional learning (SEL) plays a key role in children’s academic readiness and success. Students with strong SEL skills participate more in the classroom, have more positive attitudes about and involvement with school, are more accepted by classmates, and are given more instruction and positive feedback by teachers. Without SEL skills, young children are more likely to dislike school and perform poorly on academic tasks, and later experience grade retention and dropout (Raver & Knitzer, 2002). >Read more

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Center for Resilient Children announces new trauma-informed, resilience-building resource for parents and children

Villanova, PA (May 2016) – A leading provider of social and emotional learning tools and resources, the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Center for Resilient Children, announced today—during Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week— the introduction of its latest resilience-building curriculum, Your Journey Together.  Focused on promoting resilience among vulnerable children, and their families, Your Journey Together (YJT) provides parents and guardians with skills and techniques to promote resilience in the home. >Read more

Why the World Needs Resilient Kids and How to Build Their Bounce

By Karen Cairone (April 2016) – I recently attended a leadership symposium with others in the early childhood field who had been dubbed “Exceptional Emerging Leaders.” As I participated in the events throughout the day, I found myself noting the characteristics of the individuals who were getting their voices heard most often and, in essence, shaping the direction of our work together to advance the field of early childhood. These individuals were often the vocal ones with strong opinions, who used their assertiveness to move their thoughts into actionable next steps. >Read more

3 Ways to Promote Healthy Self-Confidence for Kids

By Paul LeBuffe, Director of the Devereux Center for Resilient Children: Self-confidence is a significant factor for children in achieving success both in school and life. Fortunately, like other social and emotional skills, self-confidence can be taught. It is a “Goldilocks” characteristic: Too little confidence can cause children to self-doubt, discouraging them from trying new things; too much confidence may set children up for unexpected failure and may alienate others. As parents our job is to enable our children to develop healthy, realistic self-confidence. Here are three tips to helping them achieve that goal… >Read more

How Do You Bounce Back from Setbacks? Building Resilience in Teachers

Edutopia – Educators know many highs and lows. Some of these highs come when our students show us that they have learned deeply, taken what we have presented, and used it in creative ways. One of our greatest highs comes when students persist despite significant challenges in accomplishing a goal. Our lows come from wanting our students to succeed and seeing them come up short. They also hit us from the many changes and challenges in the educational landscape, the shifting rules and criteria, for example. >Read more

Nefertiti Bruce Poyner Educates Parents/Teachers on Social/Emotional Health of Children

PIQUA — It is often easy to get lost in the GPAs, the test scores, and the “how well did Bobby do in math this quarter?” questions. But have you asked your child or student lately how they are feeling?  “It’s not just how (children) perform academically, but how they feel inside,” said Adele Penrod of Piqua Parents as Teachers before a presentation on “Steps to Support Strength, Security and Self-Control in Children” led by national speaker and author Nefertiti Bruce Poyner.  Poyner, who was also representing the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, came to the Upper Valley Career Center on Wednesday to discuss the theory of resilience — being a child’s way of using their strengths to bounce back from negative or difficult situations — to parents, teachers, and the like.  >Read more

Kaplan Early Learning Company Announces Unique Assessment and Planning Solution for Early Childhood Classrooms

Lewisville, N.C. (PRWEB) April 24, 2015 – Kaplan Early Learning Company, a leading international provider of products and services that enhance children’s learning, announced today that it will offer an exclusive, web-based assessment as part of a new partnership with Conscious Discipline and the Devereux Center for Resilient Children.  The Conscious Discipline & eDECA Assessment and Planning System will allow early childhood professionals and families to screen, assess and promote protective factors associated with the resilience and healthy social and emotional development of preschoolers between 3 and 5 years old. >Read more

YMCA Pilot Program Found to Boost Skills Students Need to Learn

Education Week – The YMCA of the USA is expanding a pilot after-school program designed to close the achievement gap for low-income children, following early signs that students are gaining the skills and motivation they need to do well in school.  Researchers found that after one year, students in the original seven pilot programs improved their social-emotional skills, school behavior, confidence, and school attachment by 53 percent to 70 percent, as shown below in the YMCA’s graphic, based on the Devereux Students Strength Assessment (DESSA), which evaluates nonacademic predictors of school success. >Read more

Life Lessons:  Emotional Learning

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Educators talk a lot about kids being ready to learn when they go to school. Now an innovative program in the Allentown School District aims to make sure kids are emotionally ready for the classroom. It’s not about reading, writing and math; this program is about responding, feeling and relating to others. >Watch news clip

Two Allentown Elementary Schools Recognized for Emotional Learning

Two Allentown elementary schools have been recognized for implementing new social and emotional learning programs for their students.  The Muhlenberg and Roosevelt elementary schools have been selected as model schools for their implementation of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies program.  Known as PATHS, that program seeks to help students improve their ability to recognize their own and others’ emotions, manage emotions, create positive relationships with peers and develop problem solving and conflict resolution skills. >Read more

Moving? Help Children Take Relocation in Stride

Changing addresses — and sometimes schools, communities and friends — is a rite of passage for millions of children. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the average American moves nearly 12 times in a lifetime, with two to three moves occurring before the age of 18. While a new hometown can be exciting, expansive and fun, it can also make a child’s world feel topsy-turvy. Here’s age-by-age guidance on helping children take a move in stride. >Read more

Apperson and Devereux Form Strategic Partnership to Publish and Expand Social, Emotional Learning Tools to Educators

Apperson, a publisher of solutions for assessing performance and measuring success in educational institutions, and Devereux, a leading national nonprofit behavioral healthcare organization, today announced a strategic partnership focused on promoting resilience and social-emotional success for children through the launch of Apperson S.E.L. +. >Read more

Measuring Social and Emotional Skills in Children

The ability to work as part of a team, build relationships, compromise, and adapt to change are skills formed during early childhood. United Way of Greater Cincinnati has partnered with the Devereux Center for Resilient Children to create a system that measures social-emotional skills in young children, and last year completed assessments of over 4,600 students in the region. In an interview conducted by Cincinnati’s 91.7 WVXU radio station, United Way of Greater Cincinnati Community Impact Director Patricia Nagelkirk and Bill Bresser, director of Kentucky Operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati, discuss the study and how the results will be used to create and modify youth programs in our area.  >Listen here

Read the United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s blog entry on the study, titled United Way releases results of the first regional soft skills screen.

6 habits of resilient people

What makes some people persevere through trying circumstances while others begin flailing at the first sign of crisis?  Understanding the key qualities of resilient people is the first step to cultivating that bounce-back quality in yourself. >More

Childhood expert advises adults cut holiday stress through resilience

VILLANOVA, Pa., Dec. 14 (UPI) — A study says 1-in-4 U.S. adults reports feeling “extreme stress” this time of year, but a childhood expert suggests ways to develop holiday resilience.  Nefertiti Bruce, early childhood specialist and national trainer at the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, a non-profit behavioral healthcare organization, emphasizes looking beyond the craze of the holidays to build personal resilience by rediscovering the season’s original values: thankfulness, family, rest and laughter. >More

The Devereux Center for Resilient Children Hosts Assistant Secretary George Sheldon, Educators, Early Childhood Professionals at Mental Health/Education-Focused Resilience Conference

Assessing and supporting children’s resilience in early childhood programs and education is a critical component to children’s development, laying a foundation for later competencies in managing stress and overcoming adversity throughout life, said Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, George H. Sheldon, while speaking Friday at the Celebration of Resilience Conference hosted by the Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC) in Villanova. >More

Taking action before kids develop problems by assessing emotional skills

Experts from the Devereux Center for Resilient Children advise parents against waiting for kids to develop emotional or social problems to take action; there are now tools available to identify children at risk.

Devereux gathered national experts on children and local advocates in Villanova Friday to discuss ways to help kids bounce back from tragedy as well as cultivating healthy habits when they face everyday challenges. > More

Allentown shows off new behavior health program

The chanting students of Cleveland Elementary School in Allentown filled an assembly room Friday with excitement and anticipation as they awaited the arrival of their school mascot, Cubbie. The students would soon help the giant, soft bear through his problems. It was to demonstrate how a new school program provides students social and emotional health. > More    Watch a news report>>

Allentown school program tries to put children on the right path

Take a walk through the halls of Cleveland, Sheridan, Muhlenberg and many other elementary schools in Allentown, and you will feel the energy. Students buzz about with excited faces, eager to learn and collaborate with their classmates. Teachers are ready to take on the day. However, the scene is not the same in many other school districts in Pennsylvania and throughout the country for that matter. > More

The science behind social and emotional learning

Allentown School District uses three-year grant to start two world-renowned programs meant to improve students’ social-emotional skills. > More

Research Study Shows Social-Emotional Strengths Help Children do well in school

DuPage Elementary Schools stress Social-Emotional Learning

Elementary school districts across the suburbs know their role. And it’s not just to educate kids. Districts serving children from kindergarten through fifth grade, and even into middle school, know they must be part teacher, part counselor, part friend and part advocate. Social and emotional learning programs are helping elementary districts fill all those roles and also teach students how to behave, believe in themselves and make friends. > More

SCAN receives $500K+ donation, largest in 37 year history

The largest private donation ever given to “SCAN” will pave the way for a new program that will help victims of child abuse. Former Fort Wayne resident Joan Sherman and her husband gave “Stop Child Abuse and Neglect” a $534,930 donation that will create a program for abused children. > More

Ready Set Grow!  Group focuses on Child Development

The question of whether it is nature or nurture that most influences the type of individual a person grows into has long been debated. And while both may play a role in human lives, the presence or lack of nurturing relationships in one’s life begins shaping their future abilities from day one, according to experts. > More

Workshop Teaches Bonds for Success

The six-hour training will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Emmaus Room at St. Peter’s Church on Cornelia Street. The program includes “Planting the Seeds of Attachment,” presented by the Clinton County Health Department; and “Growing the Roots of Resilience,” by Rachel Sperry, a national trainer and early childhood mental-health specialist at the Devereux Center for Resilient Children in Villanova, Pa. > More