Abstract:

The purpose of the project was to investigate the effect of the Social-Emotional Prevention Program on social and communication skills of 4-6 year-old children attending preschool education and having families with low socio-economic level. In the study, quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest group was used. Three experimental groups and one control group were included in the project. Average age of the children in all the groups was 5 years, 1 month, and 27 days (minimum 4 years, 1 month, and 16 days; maximum 6 years and 3 days).  83 children and 83 mothers including 25 children and 25 mothers in the age group of 4-6 years from Experimental Group 1, 16 children and 16 mothers from Experimental Group 2, 16 children and 16 mothers from Experimental Group 3, and 26 children and 26 mothers from Control Group were included in the project. All of 83 children involved in the all groups were attending independent kindergartens affiliated with Ministry of National Education, Provincial Directorate for National Education of Denizli in Pamukkale and Tavas districts of Denizli. Personal Information Form, Social Skills Evaluation Scale (SSES), and Communication Skills Scale (Teacher Form) were used as the data collection tools in the project. According to the results of the study, implementing Social-Emotional Prevention Program together with family involvement activities, implementing only Social-Emotional Prevention Program, and implementing only family involvement activities led to significant improvements in the social and communication skills of the children compared to the control group. 

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