Using protective factors in practice: lessons learned about resilience from a study of children aged five to thirteen

There are many advantages of using resilience as a framework to guide the screening, assessment, and promotion of social-emotional health in children. This article reviews which individual attributes are most important for the resilience of elementary school-age children, as primarily determined by the positive attribute's ability to discriminate between typically developing children and those with disciplinary, mental health, and/or special education referrals or services. This research lends itself to a practical framework to scientifically measure and utilize individual social-emotional strengths for the purposes of fostering resilience in all children.