Deborah Weinstock-Savoy, PhD, instructor

This program explores the emergence and importance of empathy in young children's emotional growth, including its key role in preventing early bullying behaviors. It reviews recent research on the underpinnings of empathy and the roles of both emotional and cognitive development. The program focuses on how to create a caring environment that fosters empathy and encourages pro-social and cooperative behaviors. It stresses the importance of caring adult-child relationships as well as how to establish and maintain group values, rules and structures that create the necessary preconditions for encouraging empathic behavior. It reviews several of the best-known social-emotional curricula that foster empathy and provides specific techniques for nurturing empathy within groups. It also examines various reasons why individual children may be "empathy-challenged" and presents strategies for providing these children with additional support.

Upon completion of the program the student will be able to:

• Define empathy.
• Identify at least 3 major contributors to the development of empathy.
• Describe at least 3 components of an "empathy-enhancing" classroom.
• Name at least 3 reasons that individual children might be challenged in the development of empathy.
• Describe at least 3 strategies for providing extra support to "empathy-challenged" children

Program Code: NEC3
3 CE Credits
Location: at MSPP, Newton

Deborah Weinstock-Savoy, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with over 25 years of professional experience working with families and educators.  She specializes in leading workshops and support groups in both community and corporate settings.