Does the Use of Conscious Discipline in Early Childhood Special Education Provide Emotional Support to the Teachers and Instructional Staff, as well as the Students?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if the implementation of Conscious Discipline in an early childhood special education program provided positive social emotional support to the teachers and instructional staff as well as students. The measurement tool, a survey using a Likert scale was, distributed to 20 staff members at a separate public school in Baltimore County, Maryland; 16 surveys were returned. This researcher reviewed the findings to determine if Conscious Discipline had an impact on staff members social-emotional well-being and their feeling of connectedness with students. The results indicated that implementing Conscious Discipline does have a positive effect on staff members as only responses of Strongly Agree, Agree, and Neutral were reported. Responses also targeted specific tenants of Conscious Discipline and how it supported a feeling of connectedness to students, staff members as only responses of Strongly Agree, Agree, and Neutral were reported. Further research needs to be conducted to examine specifically how implementing Conscious Discipline supports the social-emotional well-being of staff members and how that relates to connectedness with students in an early childhood special education program.