This longitudinal study was conducted to gain understanding of the social-emotional and academic development of economically disadvantaged bilingual preschool children. In Study 1, the authors combined cognitive, psychosocial, and cultural-linguistic factors to determine profiles of social competence as measured by peer play. A person-centered analysis of 207 Hispanic American preschoolers (ages 4 and 5 years) yielded 6 distinct profiles, 2 of which were socially competent and 1 of which was vulnerable. Findings revealed profile differences in social competence and a significant relationship between bilingualism and social-emotional development. In Study 2, the authors determined which profiles were associated with later academic achievement and growth of English proficiency. Findings indicated a significant relationship of early social-emotional development to later academic success and English acquisition, highlighting the role of bilingualism.

Parental attachment and close teacher-child relationships offer a protective mechanism to promote language development among bilingual preschool children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Research has shown that language skills are an integral part of resilience for young children. This is the first study to examine parental acculturation, parent-child attachment, and teacherchild relationships as predictors of English and Spanish oral language skills. Participants consisted of 468 Hispanic American preschool children, aged 3 to 5 years, from low-income families of an urban public school district in the Northeast. Findings suggest that children's relationships with parents and teachers significantly contribute to their bilingual language skills. Higher quality teacherchild relationships were associated with higher levels of language skills over and above quality parental attachments. The implications of the findings are discussed. C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.A key way to foster resilience in young children is to build their competence to succeed despite stressful circumstances that adversely affect their school adjustment. This is especially important for young immigrant children who are exposed to poverty, learning a second language, acculturation stress, and other potential stressors that place them at risk for social-emotional, communication, and learning difficulties in school.For preschool children, competence is measured by their ability to communicate wants and needs, establish and maintain relationships, solve problems, and demonstrate school readiness, all of which are interrelated with and rooted in social-emotional development (Bergin & Bergin, 2009). In turn, attachment relationships provide a strong foundation for the development of competence in preschool. Moreover, language serves as a bonding agent between children and their attachment figures, and culture influences communication styles and the quality of affect in attachment relationships (Schieffelin & Eisenberg, 1984). Simultaneously, the development of preschoolers' language skills is enhanced by the nature of these attachment interactions (Piker & Rex, 2008;Saunders & O'Brien, 2006).In school, preschoolers' adaptive coping and success are influenced through parent-child attachments and by attachment-like relationships with teachers. Language serves as an operative measure of school readiness and preschool success. Therefore, it is essential that school psychologists understand the "impact of early social-emotional relationships on cognitive-linguistic-affective structures used by the child to construct views of the world, self, and others" (Kennedy & Kennedy, 2004, p. 247). In particular, building immigrant children's competence to succeed in school requires an understanding of their attachment relationships with their parents and teachers within the context of language and cultural factors.Developing language skills to its full potential is challenging when children live in impoverished environments (NICHD Early Childhood Rese...

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This special issue, titled "Resilience in Schools," examines the theoretical and empirical bases of resilience in children and its implications for school practices that strengthen the success of children who are exposed to high-risk stressors or grow up under conditions of adversity. Each author uses a systemic approach to resilience that emphasizes the complex and integrated role of schools, families, and communities working together to foster students' educational and psychological wellbeing. Within this systemic perspective, resilience is the complex interaction of child characteristics (personal resilience) and socio-environmental supports (family, school, and community) that buffer the effects of adverse situations and allow students to succeed despite risk.

The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Clinical Form (DECA-C) is the first instrument to measure the social-emotional resilience of young children from ages 2 to 5 years. This study is an important step toward gathering validity evidence for the teacher-rated DECA-C. This is the first study to investigate the DECA-C factor structure and the first to examine its use with low-income Hispanic American bilingual preschoolers. The one-factor, three-factor, and higher-order three-factor models were tested for the Total Protective Factors domain and the one-, four-, and higher-order four-factor models for the Total Behavioral Concerns domain. Participants comprised 471 low-income bilingual children of Hispanic backgrounds in an urban public school district in the Northeast. Findings from confirmatory factor analyses indicated that all models tested had poor model fit with this sample; however, future research replicating these findings would be necessary for implementation of modifications. In the meantime, the DECA-C shows promise for use in practice with this particular population. Implications for further research are discussed.