Our social-emotional resource provides a valuable positive asset for schools, care centers, Qualified Mental Health Providers, and organizations serving children and the families. KidLinks musicians, artists, designers and animators worked in concert with professionals specializing in the topic areas to ensure the content here is both age and developmentally appropriate.

We hope you our resource meets your needs. Please contact us at info@kidlinks.org if you have any questions.

What are Social-Emotional Skills?

When a parent comes to a community center for help, it is often because they have either directly observed or have been told by someone that their child is struggling in some way. Examples of the struggles many of our clients endure include:

• Impulsive behavior that hinders a child’s ability to succeed in academic and social settings
• Aggressive behavior that impedes a youth’s ability to maintain relationships and/or resolve problems without violence
• An inability to read social cues and self-regulate behavior to fit the environment
• Poor communication skills resulting in high levels of frustration, anxiety or sadness and an enduring inability to get needs met
• Deficient problem-solving skills that can result in poor decision making and often leads to the child getting into trouble or being socially rejected

How does KidLinks help teach Social-Emotional Skills?

In many clinical settings, children can often go at least two weeks between sessions with their clinician, and during this time, progress can be lost. A creative song which encourages repetition of skills learned in a therapy session can aid in social-emotional development.

When children are permitted to experience the joy of play, quality learning and maximum participation occur. Music stimulates all of the senses and involves the child at many levels. This “multimodal approach” facilitates several developmental skills.