Journal of Counseling & Development ■ July 2018 ■ Volume 96 289 © 2018 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Received 07/05/17 Revised 09/21/17 Accepted 09/25/17 DOI: 10.1002/jcad.12203 One goal for early childhood education programs is to sup- port children’s social and emotional development, including how children respond to stimuli and express feelings of connectedness with peers and adults. The manner in which a child focuses attention and contributes to healthy peer relationships is associated with myriad positive outcomes in subsequent schooling and life experiences (McClelland, Acock, Piccinin, Rhea, & Stallings, 2013). Unfortunately, for children born into economically challenging environments, social and emotional development and related life outcomes can be compromised (Finegood & Blair, 2017; Moffitt et al., 2011). Therefore, it is important that personally and culturally appropriate intervention strategies are provided to support young learners’ capacities to flourish. To best prepare young children in poverty for later life challenges, professional counselors must make every attempt to improve social conditions; however, it is equally important that young children’s internal capacities be strengthened either to accommodate improved social conditions or to maximize resilience in the face of persistent adversity. Increasingly, Matthew E. Lemberger-Truelove, David J. Atencio, Almut K. Zieher, and Alfredo F. Palacios, Department of Individual, Family and Community Education, University of New Mexico; Kira J. Carbonneau, Department of Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology, Washington State University. Matthew E. Lemberger-Truelove is now at Department of Counseling and Higher Education, University of North Texas. This research was supported by a grant from the Thornburg Foundation in cooperation with the Dean of the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Matthew E. Lemberger-Truelove, Department of Counseling and Higher Education, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #310829, Denton, TX 76203-5017 (email: Matthew.Lemberger-truelove@unt.edu). Author Note. Supplemental materials for the article are available from the first author upon request. Self-Regulatory Growth Effects for Young Children Participating in a Combined Social and Emotional Learning and Mindfulness-Based Intervention Matthew E. Lemberger-Truelove, Kira J. Carbonneau, David J. Atencio, Almut K. Zieher, and Alfredo F. Palacios The authors analyzed findings from a counselor-delivered social and emotional learning and mindfulness-based intervention with twenty-three 3- and 4-year-olds from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Using a multilevel modeling approach to illustrate students’ growth across multiple behavioral observations in a randomized controlled design, the authors found that the treatment group exhibited more self-regulatory-related behaviors on days when the intervention occurred. Qualitative analyses revealed that the students adopted kindness language consistent with the intervention. Implications for practice are suggested. Keywords: early childhood, mindfulness, social and emotional learning, counseling, self-regulation social and emotional learning (SEL) and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been found to be effective inter- ventions with young children, each resulting in a number of affective and cognitive gains (Greenberg & Harris, 2012; Zoogman, Goldberg, Hoyt, & Miller, 2015). For practitioners, there are conceptual and practice similarities between SEL and MBI activities that are consistent with the priorities of early childhood educators (Denham & Weissberg, 2004) and counselors of children (Bowers, Lemberger-Truelove, & Brigman, in press; Lemberger, Carbonneau, Selig, & Bowers, 2018). SEL is a comprehensive intervention paradigm with a focus on how practitioners might help support children in managing their emotions, experiencing empathy, pursuing goals, and effectively navigating interpersonal relationships (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2012). MBIs, which are characterized by a particular focus on how one maintains awareness of current experiences in a curious and nonjudgmental manner (Bishop et al., 2004), are considered one of many approaches to SEL. Gueldner