The Georgia’s SEEDS for Success State Leadership Team (SLT) works to support coordinated and aligned implementation in birth to eight settings across the state. The SLT is composed of several state level partners including:

• Georgia Department of Education
• Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
• Get Georgia Reading
• Department of Public Health
• Higher Education

The VISION for Georgia’s SEEDS for Success State Leadership Team is for all young children in Georgia to have strong social emotional foundations for lifelong learning and enhanced academic success that are strengthened through a network of professionals, families, and community members.

The core values that drive this work are:

• All children are capable, competent individuals who thrive in high quality learning environments.
• Early relationships matter.
• Children are individuals who develop at various rates.
• All children can be successful in high-quality early learning environments.

A statewide network of DECAL Inclusion and Behavior Support Specialists is available to link early childhood providers with community resources to support classroom climate and to prevent and reduce persistent challenging behavior.

The specialists provide a variety of resources, strategies and supports to programs, classrooms, and the community. These resources and supports include, but are not limited to: Bright from the Start approved professional development for teachers, directors and others; trainings to support Social Emotional Competence in areas such as Nurturing and Responsive Relationships, Supportive Environments, Responsive Caregiving, Temperament, and more. They also provide resources and information about social emotional development, challenging behaviors, and other topics, and provide targeted technical assistance to early childhood programs through strategies designed to increase nurturing and responsive relationships and high quality supportive environments, provide targeted social emotional supports, and identify and address challenging behavior.

If you have questions or a request for specialist support, please contact our SEEDS for Success Helpline at 1-(833)354-4357 or at inclusion@decal.ga.gov.

Currently, one of the primary programs administered by DECAL under Georgia’s SEEDS for SUCCESS is the Pyramid Model Implementation Project. This project supports teams of early childhood professionals by providing free training and technical assistance designed to help teachers use evidence-based strategies to improve classroom climate, and to prevent and reduce persistent challenging behavior. The Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (The Pyramid Model) is a framework of evidence-based practices that provides universal supports promoting the social emotional development of all young children, as well as additional supports for children and families with more complex needs. If you would like more information about the model please go to https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/.

Project Goals:

• To promote the social and emotional development of children, birth-five, through a collaborative professional development system that fosters and sustains the state-wide, high-fidelity use of the Pyramid Model.
• Increase the capacity of the workforce in supporting the social emotional development of young children (birth – 5).

Pyramid Model Implementation Sites:

• Programs receive on-going training and technical assistance provided to ensure fidelity of implementation
• Programs across the state are engaged in program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model framework

SEEDS Pyramid Model Grants:

• 2019-2020 SEEDS Grant Guidelines

Georgia’s SEEDS for Success Webinars:
These six FREE webinars were created to provide an introduction to the Pyramid Model framework and social emotional early development strategies for early learning professionals (both teachers and administrators) working with children 3-5 years old.

Book Nook:
Click here and then click the green header titled Book Nooks to access guides for using books that promote children’s social emotional development.

Teaching Social Emotional Skills:
These tools are designed to help early educators teach social emotional skills. For example, click here and then click the blue header titled Teaching Social Emotional Skills to access a variety of resources such as visuals, the Solution Kit, and the Feelings Wheel. You can also click the orange header for several different scripted stories for social situations that can be edited and implemented in your classroom.

Backpack Connection Series:
The Backpack Connection Series was created by TACSEI to provide a way for teachers and parents/caregivers to work together to help young children develop social emotional skills and reduce challenging behavior. Teachers may choose to send a handout home in each child’s backpack when a new strategy or skill is introduced to the class. Each Backpack Connection handout provides information that helps parents stay informed about what their child is learning at school and specific ideas on how to use the strategy or skill at home.

How to Help Your Child Learn to Share:
Adults often admonish children to “share the toys, cookies, or another highly desired object.” But we need to remember that sharing doesn’t come easily for young children. Children aren’t born knowing how to share but instead need to be given lots of supportive opportunities to learn how to take turns and manage their emotions. It is important to remember that sharing toys and taking turns are developmental milestones and take a certain amount of maturity to accomplish. Young children should not be forced to share. Demanding that children share ignores their feelings and does not actually teach them to share. In fact children are more apt to share when they aren’t made to than when forced. Instead, introduce sharing through the concept of turn taking. In order to help children learn this skill, adults can provide children with many different opportunities to practice taking turns and sharing with others. Adults can also support the child with words to express the big emotions he may feel while he is waiting for his turn.

The ability to share, take turns and manage strong emotions are crucial social skills all children need. When a child can share with others and take turns she can play cooperatively and develop a solid foundation of successful friendship skills to build on as she develops.

Click here and look for the yellow-gold header titled Backpack Connection to access more series resources. There are also several other resources to support families under Related Resources.

Making Life Easier:

TACSEI's "Making Life Easier" series is designed specifically for parents and caregivers. This series of tipsheets contains valuable information on how to make often challenging events easier to navigate, and even enjoyable, for both caregivers and children.

Bedtime and Naptime

Many families find bedtime and naptime to be a challenge for them and their children. Sleep problems can make infants and young children moody, short tempered and unable to engage well in interactions with others. Sleep problems can also impact learning. Parents also need to feel rested in order to be nurturing and responsive to their growing and active young children. This first installment of the Making Life Easier series provides a few proven tips for making bedtimes and naptimes easier for both parents and children. Also includes a handy tip card for quick reference.

Click here and look for the orange header titled Making Life Easier for a variety of additional topics to support your routines at home.

Backpack Connection Series:

The Backpack Connection Series was created by TACSEI to provide a way for teachers and parents/caregivers to work together to help young children develop social emotional skills and reduce challenging behavior. Teachers may choose to send a handout home in each child’s backpack when a new strategy or skill is introduced to the class. Each Backpack Connection handout provides information that helps families stay informed about what their child is learning at school and specific ideas on how to use the strategy or skill at home.

How to Help Your Child Stop Biting

It is very common for a child to bite others at some point during their early years. When children do not have the skills or vocabulary to express their feelings, they might engage in a behavior, such as biting, as a way to let you know how they feel.

Click here and look for the yellow-gold header titled Backpack Connection to access more series resources.

Web Links:
Tips on Nurturing your Child’s Social Emotional Development

What is social emotional development and how can you support it? This five-page resource provides the definition of social emotional development and describes how relationships and responsive care support it. It also offers concrete tips on how to promote children’s healthy social emotional development from birth to three.

Supporting Your Child’s Relationship Building Skills

What are relationship building skills and how can you support your child in using them? This three -page resource describes the process of supporting your child’s relationship building skills, offers examples of relationship building experiences, and provides some concrete ideas for how to encourage relationship building skills and infants and toddlers.

Love, Learning, and Routines

How do routines support your child’s development? This two page resource provides information about the role of routines in the lives of infants and toddlers. It also explores the role of routines in guiding positive behavior, reducing power struggles, supporting infants and toddlers’ social skills, and helping children cope with transitions.

Tips on Temperament

Understanding your child’s temperament helps you be a better parent. This two-page resource explains the concept of temperament and includes a description of the five characteristics of an individual’s temperament.

Toddlers and Challenging Behavior: Why They Do It & How to Respond

Have you ever wondered why your toddler says “no” when she means “yes” or seemingly has a meltdown for no reason? Are you unsure how to respond to your toddlers strong feelings? This three-page handout provides insights into why your toddler behaves the way she does and offers strategies to help you help your toddler learn to express her feelings in more acceptable ways.

First Words Project: Resources for families related to developmental screening tools and early detection of communication delays.

Social Communication Growth Charts: Resources and tools for families of children from 9 to 24 months of age. These resources and tools describe the importance of social communication and support families as they track their child’s social communication growth and identify potential delays in communication.

National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations:
Information and resources on the Pyramid Model and Positive Behavior Intervention and Support.

Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation:
Ideas for increasing children’s opportunities to practice social skills.

Challenging Behavior in Infants and Toddlers:
Tip sheets, brochures, videos and other resources to help families understand the causes of common behavior problems and ways to teach young children self-control and critical coping skills.

Social Emotional Development in Infants and Toddlers
Tip sheets, brochures, videos and other resources to help families support social emotional development in their young children.