Social- Emotional Evidence Based

Intervention

STRONG START
EDPS 674
Alison Lessard, Christina Majcher, Nicole Dickson

Overview

What is Strong Start?

Materials and Cost
Theoretical Basis
Application
Specific Example
Research Literature
Pros and Cons
Summary

What is Strong Start?

Promotes social and emotional learning of young children
Two versions:
Children ages 3-5
Children grade K-2
Both a prevention and early intervention program
Variety of settings
Effective with high functioning, typical, at- risk or children with emotional and
behavioural challenges
10 lessons, 35 minutes each
Taught by teacher or support professional- no special training required
http://strongkids.uoregon.edu/strongstart.html

Materials and Cost

Brookes Publishing (see link below)
Created by Dr. Kenneth W. Merrell, D. Parisi and S.Whitcomb
Two manuals: Preschool, K-2
Program manuals: CD-ROM with handouts, worksheets,
assignments, visual aids, parent bulletins
$36.95- $39.95

http://products.brookespublishing.com/Strong-Start-PreK-P402.aspx

Strong Kids/Strong Teens

Strong Kids grade 3-5 (elementary age)
Strong Kids grade 6-8 (middle school)
Strong Teens grade 9-12 (high school)

Theoretical Basis
Early experiences and relationships at home and school set the stage for selfregulation, emotional regulation, perspective taking and overall relationships.
Social and emotional competence is closely linked to cognitive and academic
success.
Development of these skills is not automatic
As children enter school, interactions with peers increase, as do demands for social
and emotional skills. Often a mismatch between the demands of the school
environment and the social-emotional readiness of children

Theoretical Basis
Many social-emotional problems are less amenable to intervention after age 8
Schools are faced with increasing need to support the social-emotional needs of students
Many social and emotional learning programs or curriculums have been developed but
there is a need for programs that are:
evidence-based
cost effective
universal and relatively easy to implement by classroom teachers
able to be embedded into daily classroom and school routines

Application of Strong Start

Can be used with preschool aged children and children in kindergarten through
Grade 2
A prevention and early intervention program for internalizing problems, promoting
social and emotional competence, and teaching children skills to increase their
resilience to life stressors
It is aimed to promote childrens strengths, assets, and personal resources
It can be used with typically developing children and with children at high risk for
developing significant social-emotional problems
The program is a semi-scripted curriculum tool that is easy to use

Application of Strong Start

The 10 lessons are relatively brief (35 to 45 minutes in length per lesson)
Each lesson manual contains an optional booster lesson for use two to three months
following completion of the initial program
The program is adaptable across a range of students and settings, and can be taught
in small groups or with entire classrooms
Strong Start is focused on the unique developmental needs of preschool children, as
well as kindergarten and primary grade students
Strong Start promotes social and emotional learning by focusing on familiar
routines, activities, and objects. The lessons rely less on reading abilities, the ability
to process abstract cognitive concepts, and the ability to apply meta-cognitive
strategies

Application of Strong Start

Each lesson includes direct instruction, examples and nonexamples of the new
social-emotional concepts
Each lesson also provides opportunities for modeling and role playing, as well as
reinforcement of the main concepts through the use of a mascot (a stuffed animal)
coupled with stories describing how the mascot deals with social-emotional learning
tasks

The 10 Lessons in Strong Start

1. The Feelings Exercise Group: An introduction of curricula, mascot, and
confidentiality
2. Understanding Your Feelings, Part 1: Basic emotional vocabulary,
identification of good and not good feelings, and generalization of
feelings across situations
3. Understanding Your Feelings, Part 2: Okay and not okay ways of
expressing feelings and review and mastery of six basic emotions
4. When Youre Angry: Identification and appropriate expression of anger,
and basic anger management techniques
5. When Youre Happy: Learned optimism training (how to feel happy and
comfort themselves when unhappy)
Doll & Cummings (2008)

The 10 Lessons in Strong Start

6. Understanding Other Peoples Feelings: Basic empathy
training, focus on physical cues and situational
interpretation,and emphasis on individual differences
7. Being a Good Friend: Basic social skills training and
friendship skills
8. Solving People Problems: Essentials of interpersonal conflict
resolution and problem solving
9. When Youre Worried: Identifying and managing anxiety,
fear, and worry
10. Finishing Up: Review of major concepts, reteaching where
necessary, and closure activities
Doll & Cummings (2008)

Specific Activity/Example Lesson

The following is a lesson from the Strong Start Pre-K program retrieved from
http://archive.brookespublishing.com/documents/Merrell-happy-lesson.pdf:
Lesson 5: When Youre Happy
Purpose: To teach students to feel happy and to comfort themselves when unhappy
Objectives:
Students will accurately identify features of people depicting the concept of happy
Students will describe how their bodies feel when they are happy
Students will accurately list synonyms for the word happy
Students will be exposed to the concept of Happy Talk

Example Lesson
Materials Needed:

Henry (stuffed animal mascot)

Blank overhead transparency or chart paper
A book from the literature list (or one of your choice)
Supplement 5.1 (laminated card)
Supplement 5.2 (laminated card)
Supplement 5.3 (in-class handout)
Crayons
Strong Start Bulletin

Example Lesson
2 Minute Review
To activate prior knowledge, review and discuss previous topics and main ideas on the
concept of anger (from Lesson 4). Make Sure to provide feedback and refer to the steps of
the Stop, Count, In, Out strategy.
Sample Script:
During our last meeting, we discussed feeling angry. Raise your hand if you can
tell me ways that help you feel better when you are angry. How about a way that
hurts?

Example Lesson
1 Minute Introduction
Communicate the lessons purpose and objectives clearly.
Sample Script:
Today, we will talk about feeling happy. Everyone
feels happy sometimes. It is a good feeling. Today, we
will talk about what happy looks like and what
happy feels like. We will think about how we can
make ourselves feel happy when we are mad or sad.

Example Lesson
Read a book from the literature list or choose your own (10 minutes)

Super Completely and Totally the Messiest by Judith Viorst

I Like Me! by Nancy Carlson
The Secret Remedy Book: A Story of Comfort and Love by Karin Cates
Fun is a Feeling by Chara M.Curtis
Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis
A Bad, Bad Day by Kristen Hall

As part of your reading, point out the actions or ways in which the characters behave when they are
acting on their feelings. Use the following questions to guide discussion:
Which character was happy?
Do you think it was a good or not good feeling?
What did the character look like when he or she was happy?
What did the character do when he or she was happy?

Example Lesson
Show and Define Happiness (5 minutes)
Use Supplements 5.1 and 5.2 to show students different examples of happy faces
Sample Script:
This is happy. Happy is a good feeling. What does happy look like in this picture?
Raise your hand if youve ever felt happy. What did your body look or feel like?
Point out facial features depicting happy in Supplements 5.1 and 5.2. Orient students
toward smiling faces
Have students describe what their bodies feel like when they were happy (e.g.,
comfortable, excited, energetic)
Help students understand words that are similar to happy (e.g., joy, glad, cheerful)

Example Lesson
Happy Talk (5 minutes)
Introduce the concept of Happy Talk (this is a hard concept for young children but it is
an important one that they can practice over time)
Sample Script:
Today, we are going to learn about Happy Talk. Happy Talk is something that will
help us to feel better when we are sad or mad. Remember, it is always okay to feel
mad or sad. When we use Happy Talk, we can first Stop, Count, Breathe In,
Breathe Out, and we can then remember that everything is going to be okay.

Example Lesson
Act out the following scenes with Henry to model an example and nonexample of Happy Talk:
Scenario 1
Henry:
Hi. Could I play with your toy?
Teacher: Maybe later. Im taking a turn to play with it right now.
Henry:
She never shares. I never get to play with her toys.
Scenario 2
Henry:
Hi. Could I play with your toy?
Teacher: Maybe later. Im taking a turn to play with it right now.
Henry:
[Henry counts to 10 and takes a deep breath.] He uses Happy Talk and tells himself
and his teacher, Thats okay. Ill get a chance to play with it another time. Ill find
something else to do.
Summarize that Happy Talk may include working to keep our bodies calm and finding another
activity that will make us feel good on the inside.

Example Lesson
Closure (1 minute)
Gather the students together and review the lesson objectives.
Sample Script:
Today, we learned about feeling happy and Happy Talk. Everyone feels happy. It
is a good feeling. If we use Happy Talk, we can make ourselves feel happy even if
we are having not good feelings.
Additional Activity (10 minutes)
An additional activity is completed within 2 days of lesson implementation (using
Supplement 5.3)

Review of Research Literature

Both teacher and parent ratings indicate statistically significant increase in
prosocial behaviors that were maintained after a 6 week follow-up
Both parents and teachers results suggest meaningful changes in prosocial
relationships with large to very large effect sizes
High likelihood of being a feasible intervention for teachers

Review of Research Literature

Level of conflict decreased significantly in treatment classes
Significantly more improvement evident after involvement in booster
lessons
Teachers ratings of internalizing behaviors decreased significantly after
implementation of Strong Start ( similar results found regarding Strong
Kids)

Limitations
New curriculum and a small number of studies have been conducted
Some of the growth can be assumed to be tied to natural development
No longitudinal studies available at this time
Study surrounding treatment fidelity has not been thoroughly conducted
Sample sizes have been relatively small

Considerations and Critique

Pros

Could provide the needed help for at-risk

preschool students without individualized
support
Easy for teacher delivery
Cost-effective
Designed for universal implementation
Student engagement in lessons
Incorporates visuals
Booster lessons
Can be imbedded into regular classroom
routines
Complements other interventions like
Incredible Flexible You and Zones of
Regulation
Parent bulletin

Cons

Some of the concepts and language are

abstract for young children
Teachers reported lessons were long for
K-2
More research is required
Some teachers feel that more emphasis
should be placed on how to deal with worry
(high levels of students with anxiety in
classrooms)

Summary
Schools are faced with increasing numbers of students who are in need of
specific instruction surrounding social and emotional learning
SEL curriculums are needed that are effective as well as feasible for schools
and teachers
Strong Start is an early intervention program that targets internalizing
problems, social emotional competence, problem solving, and friendship
skills
Increases young childrens personal toolboxes for dealing with stressful
situations and feelings
Strong Start appears to be a promising SEL curriculum with very positive
results

References
Caldarella, P., Chistensen, L., Kramer, T.J., & Kronmiller, K. (2009). Promoting social and emotional learning in second
grade students: A study of the strong start curriculum. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37, 51-56. doi:10.1007/
s10643-009-0321-4
Doll, B. & Cummings,J. A. (2008). Transforming school mental health services: Population-based approaches to
promoting the competency and wellness of children. United States: Corwin Press
Denham, S. A.,& Brown, C. (2010) Plays nice with others: Socialemotional learning and academic success. Early
Education and Development, 21:5, pages 652-680.
Gunter, L., Caldarella, P., Korth, B. B., & Young, K. R. (2012). Promoting social and emotional learning in preschool
students: A study of strong start pre-K. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40(3), 151-159. doi:10.1007/
s10643-012-0507-z
Harlacher, J.E., & Merrell, K.E. (2010). Social and emotional learning as a universal level of student support: Evaluating
the follow-up effect of strong kids on social and emotional outcomes. (2010). Journal of Applied School Psychology,
26(3), 212-229. doi:10.1080/15377903.2010.495903

References
Kramer, T. J., Caldarella, P., Christensen, L., & Shatzer, R. H. (2010). Social and emotional learning in the kindergarten
classroom: Evaluation of the strong start curriculum. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(4), 303-309. doi:10.1007/
s10643-009-0354-8
Merrell, K.W., Parisi, D.M., & Whitcomb, S.A. (2007). Strong Start: A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum for
students in grades k-2. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing
Whitcomb, S. A., & Merrell, K. W. (2012). Understanding implementation and effectiveness of strong start K-2 on
social-emotional behavior. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40(1), 63-71. doi:10.1007/s10643-011-0490-9