SAGA for Toddlers Supporting Social-Emotional and Language Development in Swedish-Speaking Early Childhood Education and Care

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are evaluating the SAGA for Toddlers intervention to support the social-emotional and language development of children aged 11 to 36 months in early childhood education and care. This study is based on mentalization theory and focuses on shared reading sessions combined with emotion and mind-related dialogues. It also aims to assess the impact on caregivers and early childhood education personnels mentalizing abilities and childrens screen time. The intervention includes training early childhood education professionals to conduct small group shared reading sessions at least three times a week for 10 weeks. These sessions use picture books and dialogue cards to encourage discussions about emotions. Caregivers participate in special meetings at the education center to support the intervention. A waitlist control group will receive the training after the study period. Participants will be assessed before, immediately after, and nine months following the 10-week intervention. Data collection involves questionnaires on childrens social-emotional development, language skills, prosocial behavior, caregivers emotional availability, and personnels mentalizing abilities. Childrens screen time and related factors will also be monitored. The study is led by the University of Helsinki and takes place in Swedish-speaking early childhood settings in Finland.

SAGA for Toddlers. Supporting Children's Linguistic and Socio-Emotional Development in Early Childhood Education and Care