There is a growing concern for small children developing social and emotional disorders. Social and emotional understanding in children is closely related to language development and to interaction with supporting caregivers. SAGA is a research and development project that aims to support 3-5 year old children’s social and emotional development by shared story book reading with mentalizing dialogues. Mentalizing dialogues are defined as dialogs enhancing children’s interest in and understanding of feelings, thoughts and intentions in one-self and others. In addition, SAGA aims to support professional development in ECEC teachers and personnel, as well as the development of the children. The hypothesis are that mentalizing dialogues in shared story book reading will
- Enhance social and emotional development in children and promote school readiness.
- Enhance children’s language development. In particular, this is important for children from multilingual backgrounds and children with adversities in their home environment.
- Enhance the professional capacities in pre-school teachers and other personnel in mentalizing interaction with children.