Brief Report: Integrating Social-Emotional Learning with Literacy Instruction--An Intervention for Children at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.

* Social-emotional growth and academic learning do not occur on parallel tracks but are inextricably connected (Downer & Pianta, 2006; Riggs, Greenberg, Kusche, & Pentz, 2006). Although policy initiatives (i.e., Race to the Top; Common Core State Standards) are beginning to address some aspects of socialemotional learning (SEL), current accountability measures emphasize academic goals. Even when teachers recognize SEL's importance, they are hard pressed to pay it adequate attention because of the pressure to prepare children for high-stakes assessments that may occur as early as first grade (Bridgeland, Bruce, & Hariharan, 2013; Elias, Bruene-Butler, Blum, & Schuyler, 2000; Greenberg et al" 2003).Moreover, a significant number of today's young children have emotional and behavioral difficulties described as serious and chronic (Blair & Diamond, 2008). Emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) tend to remain stable from early childhood on and are often predictive of later problems and a variety of negative outcomes in adolescence and adulthood (Lochman, Dunn, & Klimes-Dougan, 1993). Recently, the problems of children with EBD, who typically fail to understand complex social situations, interact effectively, and recognize and/or manage their emotions, have been linked to the poor development of selfregulation (e.g., Raine, 2002; Seguin & Zelazo, 2005) . According to recent studies in developmental neuropsychology (Graziano, Reavis, Keane, & Calkins, 2007; Hughes, 2011; Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2005), deficient self-regulation, in turn, has been linked to deficits in executive function (EF). Although researchers have debated the specific constructs involved (Carlson, 2005; Gioia, Isquith, Retzlaff, & Espy, 2002), most agree that EF comprises a collection of interrelated cognitive processes that include inhibition of impulses, cognitive or attentional flexibility, working memory, and monitoring. Executive function is hypothesized to contribute significantly to social-cognitive and behavioral functioning (Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006; Riggs et al., 2006) , and as early as kindergarten, emotional and behavioral self-regulation has been linked to both social-emotional and academic learning (Graziano et al., 2007).Integrating Social-Emotional Learning and LiteracyThe same EF skills that are associated with the self-regulation of emotions and behavior are also involved in the comprehension of oral and written language (i.e., early literacy; McClelland et al., 2007). For example, in her discussion of how the development of selfregulation influences reading comprehension, Westby (2004) outlined four critical cognitive processes that include or are related to EF: emotional control, working memory, internalization of self-directed speech, and problem solving. The development of children's selftalk, critical to self-regulation, is realized through development in receptive and expressive vocabulary, the expansion of background knowledge, and an increasing understanding of relations among concepts. As children develop self-talk, therefore, they are both strengthening language and using language to regulate their emotional and behavioral responses (Greenberg, 2006; Singer & Bashir, 1999).Due in part to these theoretical links and in part to the practical issue of when to devote time to SEL, researchers and practitioners are beginning to merge social-emotional programming with academic curricula. Positive findings to date from this integration have included increased attention, motivation, and socially competent behavior; reductions in aggressive and disruptive behavior (see Brackett, Rivers, Reyes, & Salovey, 2012; Jones, Brown, & Aber, 2011; Shechtman & Yaman, 2012); gains in math and reading achievement (Jones et al., 2011; Payton et al., 2008); and improved student grades (Brackett et al., 2012). Most integrated programs have been implemented at the universal level (whole-class instruction) rather than as selective or targeted interventions for students displaying significant behavior problems (see Payton et al. …