Primary Prevention with Children at Risk for Emotional or Behavioral Disorders: Data on a Universal Intervention for Head Start Classrooms

A classroom-wide universal intervention on direction following, sharing, and problem solving was embedded in a story and song format for Head Start children. The intervention covered a 12-week period with two 3-hour sessions in each experimental classroom weekly. Pretest and posttest data were collected on 53 children in three experimental classrooms and 31 children in two control classrooms. Results suggest significant improvements for the experimental group on adaptive behavior, social interaction, and attentional measures. Overall, children in the experimental group who were at risk for development of emotional or behavioral disorders prior to intervention either significantly improved or maintained their preintervention functioning. Implications of early detection and primary prevention efforts within a Head Start context are discussed.