Files
Download Poster (1.5 MB)
Description
During my doctoral capstone and applied leadership experience, I partnered with Eastern Scholar House, a child development center at Eastern Kentucky University serving children ages 0–5. The primary ACOTE focus area was education, with an emphasis on educating Pre-K teachers and parents on social-emotional learning (SEL) and strategies to support its development in both the classroom and home settings. Project goals included gaining hands-on experience with SEL, understanding its impact on well-being, collaborating with an interprofessional team, and providing educators with practical SEL resources. A literature review and needs assessment highlighted the benefits of SEL in improving behavior, academics, and cognitive development (Daunic et al., 2021; Ng & Bull, 2018), but also identified barriers such as limited interprofessional collaboration, low parental engagement, and lack of evidence of occupational therapy’s role in promoting SEL. This project aimed to address the identified gaps to promote social-emotional learning in Pre-K students at Eastern Scholar House. Project deliverables included an educational PowerPoint, a quick-reference handout tool for classroom activities, four SEL interventions per classroom, and a parent educational pamphlet. Leadership was demonstrated through self-directed research, creation of educational materials, and collaboration with teachers to adapt interventions to their specific classroom needs. This experience allowed me to observe how SEL influences children’s daily occupations and overall well-being. The capstone provided Eastern Scholar House with sustainable SEL resources and contributed to the professional understanding of occupational therapy’s role in SEL, while strengthening parent engagement and interprofessional collaboration.
Graduation Date
8-2025
Keywords
social-emotional learning, occupational therapy, pre-kindergarten, emotional regulation, interprofessional collaboration, health maintenance
Disciplines
Occupational Therapy
Degree Type
Open Access Capstone
Document Type
Poster
Degree Name
Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)
Department
Occupational Therapy
Site Mentor
Cheryl Barnett, CDC Director
Comments
Link to presentation: https://youtu.be/uxHNVf4J9ZI