Why Social-Emotional Learning Matters for Children

Pediatricians operate in a developmental world. Peter, a little bundle of joy I first met in the newborn nursery, was now a four-year-old tornado trying to whack me with my own stethoscope. How did this happen? I’m not entirely sure but I know it has to do with the millions of brain cells and trillions of synaptic connections in this little guy’s head. Peter’s emotional centers, a matrix of neurons that spreads out from the amygdala, through his frontal cortex and beyond, has a profound effect on how he reasons and learns. At the same time, Peter’s cognitive brain is learning to influence his emotional brain in a way that can modify reactions and behaviors.

I watched Peter process the look on his mother’s face and the tone in her voice as she removed my stethoscope from his grip. He communicated his frustration as he declared to the room, “Don’t do that!” But Peter is also resilient and recognizes that the penlight I handed him after reclaiming my stethoscope was a pretty cool consolation prize. Peter’s cognitive intellect was flashing at us like a computer screen. We also need to understand that a constantly updated emotional brain was running in the background, not always observable but fully participating in the tasks at hand.

Our emotional lives strongly impact our ability to lay down new knowledge. Our cognitive (reasoning) brain needs to learn how to recognize, modulate, and channel all that emotional noise in order for us to be able to learn and grow. This is why pediatric providers incorporate guidance on social-emotional learning (SEL) topics into routine well-child visits, and why so many educators are embracing SEL curricula.

Educators report that when we pay attention to the fundamental skills that produce long-term academic success, we find we are looking not so much at IQ but rather at social-emotional abilities like self-awareness and self-regulation, a sense of what others may be experiencing, and the skills we need to work successfully in groups. Personalities aside, children aren’t born with these skills any more than they are born knowing their ABC’s.

What does SEL look like in practice? In first grade the teacher might use a question from SEL flashcards like “How does it make you feel when someone cuts in front of you in line?” and then let each student respond. This isn’t about etiquette. It is a nudge to the emotional brain to include the cognitive brain in the conversation. It is the difference between kicking that pushy line-breaker and a more effective reaction like speaking up. In fifth grade, SEL might be a game of emotional charades (guess what feeling the student is expressing) to help students read the room. High school activities, like journaling, can merge academic goals with emotional self-awareness.

There is so much evidence that social-emotional skills are foundational to academic success and are teachable.¹ Pediatricians are accustomed to providing anticipatory guidance on everything from nutrition to TV time, whether parents have brought up the topic or not. We offer anticipatory guidance from the very first visit with every family. We know we can't wait until a child has a near-drowning incident before we bring up water safety. This is why SEL curricula make sense to us. To my pediatric way of thinking, SEL jumps out as education’s version of anticipatory guidance. We shouldn’t wait until a child is drowning academically before we teach them how to swim.

In classrooms where SEL is addressed, teachers, students, and parents stand to benefit. Educators have told us that social-emotional skills are an integral part of a young person’s educational skill set and a critical investment in a child’s long-term academic success. Studies reveal that parents feel enriched by learning how to foster social-emotional function at home. Teachers report that they are better able to teach because their students are functioning better. Administrators report that school culture seems to benefit as well.

SEL is no cure-all for educational inequities or the uninspiring teach-to-the-test mindsets that plague educational systems. But it does shine a light on the interdependent relationships between the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain. Pediatricians in general are quite comfortable with the concept of letting promising new things grow and develop. SEL as an educational tool may still be in its early stages of development. It would likely benefit from more standardized SEL curricula and professional development efforts. But it deserves to be taken seriously as it slowly but surely matures – just like Peter.