Our Engagement Lens
Seeing teachable moments and approaching them with optimism and agency
Does quiet behavior mean she is struggling with engagement?
Identify and Overcome Disengagement
Children who need the most social practice get the least because their behavior can often lead to exclusion.
While disruptive or aggressive behavior is often the most conspicuous obstacle to positive engagement, avoidance and withdrawal are just as common indications that a child may need help connecting. Although it can be a precursor to widening gaps in learning and socializing, there can be a tendency to overlook a preschool child’s quiet disengagement.
Unstructured (“free”) play among peers is the setting in which disengagement is most likely to be found – and most likely to be effectively addressed.
Want to try looking through the Engagement Lens? Try our Notepad screening tool.
Clear Obstacles to Engagement
We believe that social reluctance and behavioral challenges in early childhood must not be an obstacle to a child enjoying the critical developmental benefits of social engagement: to explore, to interact, to play with peers, to be part of the group.
To find opportunities for children to get more social practice than their behavior would otherwise elicit, Learning Seeds team of Enlightened Shadows clear obstacles from their path to give them a chance to play and interact with their peers. As they experience positive social interactions, they receive the natural social rewards that come with positive social experiences.
Set Goals and Track Progress
The Milestones of Engagement are the framework in which we set goals for a child, as our team coaches them toward positive social connections in natural settings among typically developing peers.
Learn more about how our Education Team coaches engagement.
Practice looking through the Lens
Learning Seeds offers our Engagement Lens Notepad for caring adults to practice viewing a child’s behavior through the Learning Seeds Engagement Lens.
Find this brief social skill screener for a preschooler’s exploration, interaction, and conceptualization in our Resource Library.
