Incredible Years Training Series

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Incredible Years Training Series
The Future of School Psychology Task Force on
Family-School Partnerships Jon Lasser and
Kathryn Woods
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Definition

• The Incredible Years training series
• is an empirically validated prevention/interventio
  n that is designed for young children, parents,
  and teachers (Bates, 2005). This program may be
  used for externalizing and internalizing problems
  and a broad range of behavioral, emotional, and
  social problems exhibited in childhood.
• See IY Handout 1 for More Information

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Rationale for a Multi-Tiered Approach to
Family-School Partnerships

• Family-school partnerships provide a context for
  families and educators to collaboratively
  identify and prioritize concerns across a
  continuum of opportunities and intensities
• Prevention and intervention efforts and supports
  are delivered toward a universal and targeted
  audience
• A multi-tiered approach enables families and
  educators to provide services based on a
  students responsiveness to previous preventions,
  interventions, and supports
• See IY Handout 2 for More Information

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Explanation for a Multi-Tiered Approach to
Family-School Partnerships

• Provides various levels of family-school supports
  based on a students identified need and
  responsiveness to previous efforts
• Universal Family-school collaboration provided
  to support all students and families (e.g., 4 As,
  Parent-School Collaboration, Parent Involvement,
  Parent Education)
• Targeted Family-school collaboration provided
  to support identified students and families
  unresponsive to previous universal efforts (e.g.,
  Parent Education and Intervention, Parent
  Consultation)
• Intensive Family-school collaboration provided
  to students and families unresponsive to previous
  targeted efforts (e.g., Parent Consultation
  conjoint behavioral consultation and Parent
  Intervention)

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The Multi-Tiered Approach to Family-School
Partnerships
Tier 3 Intensive, Individual Interventions Indivi
dualized supports for families and students
unresponsive to the first two tiers (e.g., Parent
Consultation conjoint behavioral consultation
and Family Intervention)
Tier 3 1-7
Tier 2 Targeted Group Interventions Specific
preventions and remedial interventions for
targeted groups of families and students
identified as at risk and unresponsive to the
first tier (e.g., Parent Training and
Intervention, Parent Consultation)
Tier 2 5-15
Tier 1 Universal Interventions Engaging all
families as collaborative partners (e.g., 4 As,
Family-School Collaboration, Parent Involvement,
Parent Education)
Tier 1 80-90
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Incredible Years Training Series

• Developed by Carolyn Webster-Stratton, the
  Incredible
• Years series helps parents and teachers improve
  the
• social competence of children between the ages
  of 2
• and 10
• Based on cognitive social learning, the training
  is
• designed to prevent, treat, and reduce conduct
• problems (Webster-Stratton, 2000)

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For Which Populations is Incredible Years Useful?

• Designed for parents and teachers of pre-school
  children
• Research was conducted with Head Start programs
  in the Seattle area
• Studies show that this is a promising, effective
  program
• Schools can arrange for teacher training that is
  parallel to the parent program to maintain
  consistency across learning environments

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Interventions

• Incredible Years trainings that target parents
  are divided into three groups
• BASIC Parent Training Program
• Early Childhood (3-6)
• School Age (6-10)
• ADVANCE Parent Training Program
• EDUCATION Parent Training Program

(Webster-Stratton, 2000)
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BASIC

• Training targets parenting skills
• Play/Involvement (e.g., How to play with a child,
  helping children learn)
• Praise/Rewards (e.g., The art of effective
  praising, tangible rewards)
• Limit setting (e.g., How to set limits, helping
  children learn to accept limits)
• Handling misbehavior (e.g., Avoiding and ignoring
  misbehavior, preventive strategies)
• Skills are taught and practiced through videotape
  modeling, role plays, and homework activities

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ADVANCE

• Training targets interpersonal skills
• Problem solving (e.g., Understanding the
  important steps to problem solving)
• Anger management (e.g., Understanding how angry
  and depressive emotions and thoughts can affect
  behaviors with others)
• Communication (e.g. Active listening and speaking
  up, communicating more positively to oneself and
  to others)
• Depression control (e.g., Learning coping
  strategies to stop negative self-talk and
  increase positive self-talk)
• Giving and getting support (e.g., Knowing how to
  get feedback from others, Learning how to be more
  supportive of others)
• Skills are taught and practiced through videotape
  modeling, role plays, and homework activities

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EDUCATION

• Training targets academic skills
• Academic stimulation (e.g., Making learning
  enjoyable through play)
• Learning routine after school (e.g., Setting up a
  predictable routine, Understanding how television
  interferes with learning)
• Homework support (e.g., Understanding how to show
  active interest in childrens learning at home
  and school)
• Reading (e.g., teaching parents how to read to
  their children)
• Limit setting (e.g., Understanding how to follow
  through with limits)
• Involvement at school (e.g., Knowing ways to
  support teachers in their teaching efforts)
• Teacher conferences (e.g., Understanding how to
  focus on finding solutions to childrens school
  difficulties (rather than blame)
• Skills are taught and practiced through videotape
  modeling, role plays, and homework activities

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Additional Programs

• In addition to the BASIC, ADVANCE, and EDUCATION
  series, Incredible Years also offers trainings
  that are not profiled in this presentation
• Teacher Training Program
• Child Training Program (Dina Dinosaur Social
  Skills)
• More detailed information about these additional
  programs can be found at www.incredibleyears.com

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Short-Term Program Goals

• Reduce conduct problems at home and in the
  classroom
• Fewer negative behaviors, noncompliance
• Decreased peer aggression and disruptive
  behavior
• Promote social, emotional, and academic
  competence
• Increased social skills, understanding of
  feelings,
• conflict management skills, and academic
  engagement

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Long-Range Program Goals

• Develop treatment for early onset conduct
  problems
• Provide universal prevention of conduct problems

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Program Materials

• Videotapes for BASIC, ADVANCE, and EDUCATION
  series
• Self-administered manual for BASIC series
• Leader manuals for each program
• Weekly refrigerator notes for parents (key
  points)
• Parent assignments for home activities
• Book for parents
• Refrigerator magnets for parents
• Posters of the program model
• See IY Handout 3 for More Information

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Content and Mechanics
What follows are brief summaries of each
programs content and format, followed by more
general notes on how the trainings are executed.
More detailed information can be found in the
Incredible Years materials, available at
www.incredibleyears.com.
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Early Childhood BASIC Parent Training (ages 3-6)
Four units Play Praise and Rewards Effective
Limit Setting Handling Misbehavior
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Early Childhood BASIC Parent Training (ages 3-6)
Materials Leaders manual (video narration,
discussion topics/questions, homework, handouts,
etc.) Participants books 10 videotapes
(vignettes of parents interacting with children)
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Early Childhood BASIC Parent Training (ages 3-6)
Method Groups of ten to fourteen participants
meet for twelve to fourteen 2-hour session
Leaders use video vignettes as the basis for
group discussion Parenting skills are discussed
and new skills are role-played Home practice
activities are assigned
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Early Childhood BASIC Parent Training (ages 3-6)
Sample Objectives Following through with
commands effectively Avoiding power
struggles Anticipating and avoiding
frustrations Handling crying, grabbing, not
eating, and refusing to go to bed
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ADVANCE Parent Training Programs (ages 4-10)
For parents that have completed BASIC
series Three units How to Communicate
Effectively with Adults and Children Problem
Solving for Parents Problem Solving with Young
Children
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ADVANCE Parent Training Programs (ages 4-10)
Materials Leaders manual Six videotapes
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ADVANCE Parent Training Programs (ages 4-10)
Method Parents meet for ten to twelve 2-hour
sessions Review of BASIC program material Parents
learn application of communication and problem
solving principles to relationships with children
and adults
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ADVANCE Parent Training Programs (ages 4-10)
Sample Objectives Recognizing how to validate
anothers feelings Increasing positive and polite
communication with others Promoting consistent
verbal and nonverbal messages
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EDUCATION Parent Training Program (ages 5-10)
One unit in five parts How to Support Your
Childs Education 1) Promoting Your Childs
Self-Confidence 2) Fostering Good Learning
Habits 3) Dealing With Childrens
Discouragement 4) Participating in Childrens
Homework 5) Using Parent-Teacher Conferences to
advocate for your child
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EDUCATION Parent Training Program (ages 5-10)
Materials Two video tapes Manual
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EDUCATION Parent Training Program (ages 5-10)
Method Similar to other programs in
methods Provided after and builds upon BASIC
program Emphasizes home-school collaboration See
Overview Module for More Information on
Partnering with Families
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EDUCATION Parent Training Program (ages 5-10)
Sample Objectives Understanding the importance
of continuity from home to school Understanding
how to show active interest in childrens
learning at home and school Setting up a
predictable routine Making learning enjoyable
through play
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About the Trainings
Parents encouraged to bring a partner or close
friend for support Training is collaborative,
non-hierarchical, nonblaming Leaders are
collaborators rather than experts Use of
leader and parent knowledge, strength, and
perspectives equally Leaders reflect, reframe,
reinforce, support, accept Humor, optimism, and
encouragement are tools
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About the Trainings (cont.)
Some teaching of concepts and role-playing 60 of
group meetings are discussions, problem-solving,
and support 25 video tape modeling 15 teaching
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Additional Components
Weekly parent evaluations of sessions (evaluation
materials provided with the Incredible Years
program) Phone calls from leader to parents every
two weeks to assist with homework, informally
assess application of skills, and build
leader-parent relationships Parent buddies
assigned for progress sharing and support through
phone calls See IY Handout 4 for More
Information
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Home-School Partnership

• An important objective is to
• foster parental involvement in
• childrens preschool experience

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Home-School Partnership

• Emphasis on parents working with teachers
• Train parents to work with teachers to improve
  childrens learning and behavior
• Occurs in tandem with Incredible Years teacher
  training
• Teachers and parents collaborate to meet the
  needs of each child and help the child transition
  successfully into kindergarten

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Why Use Groups?

• Efficient
• Effective
• Parents can provide peer support to one another.
• Parents benefit from knowing that others have had
  similar experiences.
• Parents can learn from each other about
  successful strategies.

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Outcomes

• Research on Incredible Years program met
  standards of Evidence Based Interventions
• Yielded positive outcomes for children
• increased positive parenting behaviors
• decreased negative parenting behaviors
• increased parent-teacher bonding
• increased teachers classroom management
• decreased childrens conduct problems at home and
  school
• (Bates, 2005)
• Task Force on Evidence-Based Intervention in
  School Psychology

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Key Points for Implementation

• Offer groups at times that are good for parents
• May need to offer day and evening groups
• Create conditions that enable participation
  (e.g., transportation, childcare, snacks, etc.)
• Focus on strengths and competencies of parents
• Frame child success as an outcome of home-school
  collaboration

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References

• Bates, S.L. (2005). Evidence-based family-school
  interventions. School Psychology Quarterly, 20,
  352-370.
• Webster-Stratton, C. (1998). Preventing conduct
  problems, promoting social competence A parent
  and teacher training partnership in Head Start.
  Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 283-302.

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References

• Bates, S. L. (2005). Evidence-based family-school
  interventions with preschool children. School
  Psychology Quarterly, 20, 352-370.
• Webster-Stratton, C. (June, 2000). The
  Incredible Years Training Series. Juvenile
  Justice Bulletin. US Department of Justice.

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Additional Internet Resources

• PARTNERS website
• Partners Project (n.d.). Home page. Retrieved
  March 18, 2007 from http//www.son.washington.edu/
  centers/parenting-clinic/partners_project.asp
• See IY Handout 5 for More Information