Preschool Life Skills: Toward Teaching Prosocial Skills and Preventing Aggression in Young Children

Abstract

Abstract In the United States, more than one 1.5 million 4‐year‐olds attended publicly funded preschool in 2012, which is problematic considering that the amount of nonfamilial center‐based childcare experienced between 3 and 54 months of age has been positively correlated with externalizing problem behaviors such as aggression and noncompliance at 4.5 through 10 years of age. Teaching prosocial skills, such as functional communication, that produce the same consequences as problem behavior in early childhood has led to significant reductions in problem behavior and the prevention of problem behavior. We describe the situations that give rise to and maintain problem behavior, the preschool life skills that should be taught in these situations for the prevention of problem behavior, and the strategies used to teach these prosocial skills in early childhood classrooms.