Critical Issues in Measuring and Teaching Social Problem-solving in Early Childhood Research

Young children’s social-emotional competence is predictive of their later success in school. Social problem-solving is a key component of social-emotional competence. While there is research to suggest we can effectively support young children in developing social problem-solving skills, further work is needed to advance our understanding of how to operationalize, measure, and provide interventions on social problem-solving skills. It is particularly important to understand how to support social problem-solving skills in children with disabilities and diverse functional repertoires. We outline critical issues related to operationalizing, measuring, and teaching social problem-solving and propose 19 recommendations for addressing these critical issues. We suggest future directions for research in social problem-solving centering around four key questions.