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A recent and compelling study entitled Neurons to Neighborhoods, conducted by the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the Institute of Medicine, calls attention to the importance of early emotional development in young children. Based on a careful review of neuro-science and developmental science, it highlights compelling evidence that a child’s earliest experiences and relationships set the stage for how a child manages feelings and impulses, and relates to others. It also highlights emerging and perhaps surprising evidence that emotional development and academic learning are far more closely intertwined in the early years than has been previously understood. This policy paper focuses on what emerging research tells policymakers about why it is so important to intervene to help young children at risk for poor social, emotional, and behavioral development and what kinds of research-based interventions seem most effective. It addresses:

• the relationship between early academic learning and emotional development;
• the prevalence of emotional problems in preschool-aged young children and young children who are exposed to multiple family and environmental risk factors;
• the role of teachers and child care providers in reducing or exacerbating problems; and
• the emerging but still limited research on the efficacy of preventive and early interventions explicitly targeted to address the social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties of young children, particularly in the context of early care and education settings.