Disseminating the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program in Powys, Wales

The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program was first introduced in Wales in 2002.  Incredible Years Trainer Sue Evans and the team at the Powys Teaching Health Board have recently undertaken a review of measures collected evaluating TCM program implementation from 2011 – 2016.  Measures used were the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), and teachers’ final satisfaction evaluation of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program.

Key findings from the analysis:

Evaluation of the IY-TCM training data in Powys from 2011 to 2016 found significant changes in staff perceptions of key pupil’s social and emotional well-being on the SDQ measure following completion of training. Significant improvements were found on overall Total SDQ scores and for each of the five domains measured, with reductions in emotional difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems, and an increase in pro-social behaviour. 

A significant reduction in occupational stress was reported by participants following course completion, measured by Total TSI scores. Furthermore, results on a sub-scale of TSI items particularly pertinent to classroom management, showed that stress associated with classroom management issues (having a difficult class, having a noisy class, poor attitude or impolite behaviour from pupils, and maintaining discipline) were significantly reduced. Significant improvements overall and in every measured domain of social and emotional well-being for a specific pupil, as perceived by staff, again demonstrate the effectiveness of TCM.

Using outcome experience measures in the form of a detailed final evaluation questionnaire, staff who completed TCM training reported positively on the programme content, reported improvements in classroom behaviour, and reflected positively about learning new strategies for classroom management. They reported feeling calmer, positive, more confident and in control, and that they had gained strategies to create positive interactions with pupils.

The Powys Local Authority continues to support the implementation of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program through an annual grant. Since 2020, when the covid pandemic hit, the TCM courses have been offered online.

Read the report: Disseminating the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Programme

Thanks to Sue Evans and the team at the Powys Teaching Health Board for your commitment to providing support for teachers in your community!

Join us for Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management training!

Teacher Classroom Management Group Leader Online Tele-Session Training 
Dates: January 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, & 17th, 8:00am-11:15am US PST
Venue: Online (Zoom)
Led by: Kathleen Corrigan, M.Ed.
Cost: $890 per person
Contact: incredibleyears@incredibleyears.com

Carolyn Webster-Stratton Keynote Address to i-CEPS

IY Program Developer and UW Professor Emeritus, Carolyn Webster-Stratton, PhD

Affirming diversity: Multicultural collaboration to deliver the Incredible Years (IY) Programmes to promote children’s wellbeing

Incredible Years Program Developer Carolyn Webster-Stratton, PhD, was recently a keynote speaker at The International Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support (I-CEPS), which was held on 6-8 June, 2023.

Carolyn spoke on the topic of promoting the cultural sensitivity of IY delivery in her presentation, 40 Incredible Years: Multicultural Collaboration to Deliver the Incredible Years Programs to Promote Children’s Well-being.

In her presentation, Carolyn began with an overview of Incredible Years program delivery, with an emphasis on the concept of affirming diversity. She summarized the criteria for being considered an evidence-based program and reviewed the research outcomes for the IY parent, teacher and child programs. She highlighted the programs’ impact on children’s wellbeing in terms of promoting their social skills, emotional literacy, resilience, language development, and school readiness skills.

Then, Carolyn discussed what is encompassed in transporting Incredible Years evidence-based programs to different cultural groups and countries, including assuring high-quality translations. The presentation also provided an overview of the important components of IY program implementation and how implementation is tailored with fidelity to different cultural groups. In the address, Carolyn showed some recently developed new vignettes of families representing diverse cultural backgrounds, who had participated in IY groups. 

The Incredible Years programs have been delivered in more than 24 countries, in 10 languages. Carolyn Webster-Stratton, MS, MPH, PhD, has conducted more than a dozen Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness of programs for promoting social and emotional competence, school readiness skills and preventing conduct problems in high-risk populations. She has also evaluated teacher, parent and child treatment programs for children diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder and ADHD. Dr. Webster-Stratton has published numerous scientific articles and chapters as well as books for parents, teachers, therapists and children.

Read Carolyn Webster-Stratton’s article Affirming Diversity and Achieving Cultural Sensitivity When Delivering IY Programs for tips on how IY group leaders can affirm diversity and use culturally responsive strategies when delivering the IY programs.

Another featured presenter at the I-CEPS conference was Professor Mark Dadds, a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Growing Minds Australia, and co-Director of the Child Behaviour Research Clinic.

Professor Dadds presented on the topic of Time Out:  Time-Out from the Perspective of Mental Health, Attachment and Trauma. 

In his presentation, he reviewed the development of the time-out strategy as an alternative to parents using physical punishment, the correct implementation of the time-out strategy, and the evidence for the use of time-out.

60+ years of research on Time-Out as part of evidence-based parenting programs shows:

• Increases in prosocial behavior
• Reduces child behaviors associated with conduct disorders
• Supports parental positive mental health and reduces maltreatment

Research shows that, if implemented correctly, programs that use time out improve parent-child relationships and decrease trauma symptoms in children, without causing harm to children.

Watch his presentation: Time-Out from perspectives of mental health, attachment and trauma

Learn more about Professor Dadds’ research on the use of time out: What is it to discipline a child: What should it be? A reanalysis of Time-Out from the perspective of child mental health, attachment, and trauma

Spotlighting Jeannie Gordon’s work with families in Essex

Our incredible Mentor in Colchester, Essex, UK, Jeannie Gordon, has recently shared with us outcomes from her implementation of Incredible Years Parenting programs with parents of children with ADHD in Essex for two years, from January 2021 through December 2022. During this time, 5 parenting courses were run, with 54 parents having completed their course.

Parents who finished the courses completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The SDQ results were very positive and showed that 89% of the parents who attended a group experienced improvement in their children’s behaviour. Parents’ satisfaction with the course was very high, as well.

In addition, the outcomes report shares parents’ goals when starting the Incredible Years Parenting course, their feedback on the course, and parent testimonials.

Jeannie Gordon is the founder and director of The Ministry of Parenting (MoP). Based Colchester, UK, MoP is a small non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC).  MoP works with children, young people, parents, professionals, and organizations. Their main activities are the delivery of a range of parenting groups/workshops, young people’s workshops, one to one parent coaching and professional parent programme training. MoP supports parents, young people, and professionals on all aspects of parenting i.e., ADHD, ADS, self-harm, positive discipline, managing the teenage years, and separation issues.

Debbi Barnes and Jeannie Gordon

Jeannie is a mentor in the Incredible Years Baby, Preschool, School aged and Home Coaching programmes.

Jeannie is also author of the FLASH (Families Learning about Self- Harm) and STOP (A Supportive Programme For Parents of Teenagers) programmes. Alongside her co-director and co-author Debbi Barnes, she delivers training in the programmes mentioned above plus SHARPS (Supporting Holistic Approaches-Risk, Parents & Self-Harm) and group skills training.  

Jeannie first received Basic Parent Group Leader training in 1998, and has delivered Incredible Years groups for 25 years. These have included the Baby, Preschool, School Age, and the Autism Spectrum & Language Delays Parenting programmes, and the Dinosaur School Child program. For the last few years Jeannie has focused on working with parents with children with ADHD. Currently, Jeannie is concentrating on Parent Group Leader Training workshop delivery, to train new group leaders. Her hope is that this will enable more services across the county and country to be equipped to run these groups.

Cheers to Jeannie and all that she has accomplished!

Read the report: 2021-2023 Project Report: Incredible Years Parenting Group Project for parents of children with ADHD

MoP website www.theministryofparenting.com

New Hot Tips for Using Behavior Plans in IY Teacher Training Programs

by Carolyn Webster-Stratton, Ph.D.

Throughout the Incredible Years Teacher Training Programs (Teacher Classroom Management, Incredible Beginnings, and the Teacher Autism Program) participants complete self-reflection inventories and have opportunities to set specific professional goals. These goals encourage them to refine their teaching practice, incorporate new strategies, and help embed Incredible Years principles in their daily teaching work.

The Incredible Years behavior plans provide an additional self-reflection and goal setting process that encourages the teachers to consider the specific needs and strengths of an individual child, rather than a group of children. These Hot Tips explain how IY group leaders can introduce the concept of developing behavior plans to teachers and childcare providers for a selected student.

Download new Tips For Effectively Using Behavior Plans in IY Teacher Training Programs

See IY web site for editable versions of these behavior plans: https://incredibleyears.com/resources/gl/teacher-program/

Celebrating achievements in Ireland and Northern Ireland!

Cheers to all of the wonderful Incredible Years group leaders in Ireland and Northern Ireland who are working hard to support families in your communities!

Over the years, 2539 group leaders have been trained to provide Incredible Years programs in the Republic of Ireland, and 1620 group leaders have been trained to provide IY in Northern Ireland.

Cross-border support for families in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland

In Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, the cross-border work continues, through the support of The Changing Lives Initiative, to provide Incredible Years parenting programs for families with children aged 3-7 experiencing behaviors consistent with ADHD. The Changing Lives Initiative is comprised of five partner organizations: Archways, Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, Dundalk Institute of Technology, The Genesis Programme (Louth Leader Partnership) and NHS Highland. Learn more about their incredible work: The Changing Lives Initiative: An Early Intervention Approach to ADHD

IY ASD Program in Northern Ireland

Incredible Years Parenting Programs have been offered extensively in Northern Ireland for some time. In 2018, our friends in Northern Ireland added our Autism Parenting Program to their suite of Incredible Years program offerings. An evaluation of IY ASD program delivery found positive results: Incredible Years Autism Spectrum and Language Delays Programme Evaluation Report.

IY TCM Program in Ireland

For more than ten years, psychologists from the Irish National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) have been collaborating with primary schools in their community and delivering the Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management program. In 2021, two studies evaluating implementation of the IY TCM program in Ireland were published.

The first, Exploring the impact of Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management training on teacher psychological outcomes, included 368 Irish primary school teachers, looking at the potential impact of classroom management training on teacher psychological outcomes. Their findings suggest that there are benefits to teachers’ wellbeing and feeling of self-efficacy from IY Teacher Classroom Management Training as teachers learn positive strategies to manage challenging student behaviors.

The second study, Sustained CPD as an effective approach in the delivery of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management programme, considered the experiences of teachers receiving IY Teacher Classroom Management program training as part of their continuing professional development. The study found the TCM program to be an effective program for use in teacher continuing professional development. The study highlights the importance of teacher group leaders tailoring the program to the needs of the participants, using the collaborative model, and providing sustained support.

Cheers to these incredible group leaders and your commitment to promote the well-being of children in your communities!

New Hot Tips for Leading Benefits & Barriers Exercises!

• by Carolyn Webster-Stratton, Ph.D.

The purpose of the Incredible Years Benefits and Barriers exercise is for group leaders to explore with workshop participants the benefits of the skill being taught in the particular workshop session (such as, child directed play, social, emotion, academic or persistent coaching, descriptive commenting, praise, incentives, self-regulation skills, proactive discipline, and problem solving).

Exploring Benefits

After reviewing the previous session home or classroom assignments, the group leader introduces the new topic by asking participants what they think the benefits are of doing the particular parenting or teaching method being discussed in the session. You can start this discussion by dividing the group up into buddy dyads or small groups to discuss the benefits. After that the groups report their reflections back to the larger group and their key points are briefly summarized on a flip chart using the participants’ words. As you validate their ideas, you can explore with them the rationale for the approach. Highlight how the benefit helps children achieve their developmental milestones or their particular goals. For example, you might say, “one benefit you are saying of emotion coaching is that it builds a child’s emotion literacy, which in turn will helps children learn to self-regulate.”

Exploring Barriers

Once the benefits are discussed the same groups break out again in dyads or small groups to discuss possible barriers to using the particular coaching or relationship building method or behavior management strategy. Afterwards these barriers are summarized with the entire group and the key points are put on the flip chart next to the benefits list. For example, some barriers often discussed are: not enough time to do this because of number of children, not understanding the rationale for its use, difficulty managing the children’s behavioral responses when using the particular approach, not believing in the particular approach, and not having the patience or motivation to carry it out due to home or school context stressors.

During the barriers exercise discussion be sure you do not evaluate the barriers, or try to solve the problem obstacles but simply write down the obstacle as participants state them. Also remember not to mix up talking about benefits and barriers at the same discussion. Do each discussion separately.

Promote Reflections

Next ask the participants to look at the two lists and think about the short-term advantages and disadvantages of the approach and for whom there are benefits or barriers, such as parent, teacher or child. Frequently group participants will see that the barriers are mostly problems for the parent or teacher, especially in the short term, while the long term benefits are for the child and their future relationship with their teacher and/or parent. Keep these discussions fairly short and succinct because you will have time to unpack them and problem solve ways to overcome some of the obstacles as participants discuss the separate video vignettes.

After the lists have been created and summarized remind the participants that they will have chances to think more about the benefits and barriers as the session progress. A statement such as, “we can see that there are many potential benefits to [topic], and there are also some barriers. As we go through the material today we can work together to build a list of principles that will help make [topic] effective and lead to these benefits and address your goals. Also we will note ways to try and reduce the barriers or avoid them.”

Rationale for Benefits and Barriers Exercise

The reason for doing this exercise is not just for the participants to think about their own particular teaching or parenting goals and obstacles but for the group leader to understand each individual participant’s viewpoint. During this discussion you will become aware of any possible misunderstandings about some aspect of normal child development, the nature of their goals for themselves or the children, or what family or school factors or philosophy may interfere with a participant’s motivation to use the approach. This information will help you as group leader know what questions to ask when mediating the vignettes and facilitating discussions. For example, when talking about a particular coaching method shown on the video vignette the group leader might address ways to use the method in large classrooms with limited time available or multiple children. Or, if there is a lack of understanding of typical child development, the group leader can talk about normal developmental differences in children’s language development, emotional regulation, ability to share, or wait, and temperament as well as what strategy might be most useful to meet a particular goal for the teacher or parent. Or, help the participants tailor the particular strategy being discussed to a particular child’s social, emotional or language level. For example, when discussing descriptive commenting, tailoring for a child with language delays by engaging in more modeling, prompting, limiting number of words, and using repetition and imitation.

Group leaders will address every new topic with this collaborative Benefits and Barriers exercise. This is an important opportunity for you to understand where your workshop participants are coming from before introducing the content details of the strategy being learned. Participants will benefit greatly from sharing important insights, knowledge, and their experiences with each other. This will build group support and trust which in turn will allow you explore in more depth the discussions of the vignettes and set up of the role play practices.

Download: Hot Tips for Leading the Benefits and Barriers Exercise

Evaluation of the Incredible Beginnings® Program delivered remotely in Powys, Wales

Our friends at the Powys Teaching Health Board have shared with us their evaluation of the Incredible Years Incredible Beginnings® program, delivered remotely during 2021-2023. The Powys team evaluated 5 Incredible Years courses delivered remotely online with a total of 39 participants.

The programs were delivered by a variety of local agencies, including advisory teachers, specialist CAMHs staff and a specialist Children’s Team officer. Outcomes were evaluated using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Teacher/Childcare Provider Practices Inventory, and participant workshop satisfaction questionnaires.

Participants who completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire reported a statistically significant reduction in their perception of child difficulties (emotional problems, hyperactivity, conduct problems, and peer problems).

Participants who completed the Teacher/Childcare Provider Practices Inventory Checklist reported an increase in their use of positive teacher practices.

Highlights from the evaluation report:

Participants who completed the Incredible Beginnings Workshop Satisfaction Questionnaire highly rated their satisfaction with the program.

All staff reported that the teaching strategies and the techniques they had learned and put into practice were useful or extremely useful: ‘Some fantastic strategies and ideas to feed back to our setting and already have put in place.’

Specific areas of the programme were noted: ‘In my setting I found the managing separation anxiety, emotional coaching and use of distraction and ignoring most useful …’

‘One of the things that have been a huge help to myself is the distraction and ignoring technique.’

‘The most important part for me was definitely the strategies of how to get a child to calm and cool down as that is a big problem … that was very useful to me’. The ‘use of puppets to support emotional development’ was also mentioned.

Participants valued the focus on building positive relationships: ‘I think its helped me approach a child whose behaviour has been challenging in a different way. Giving a child the opportunity to talk through a problem.’

‘I also have used the building positive relationships with parents very helpful.’

‘I feel I have been able to use the tools provided in these sessions to build better relationships with the children but also the parents and have … a new found confidence …’

The programme was very helpful for new members of staff: ‘The programme was a huge success, from starting this course back in November with having not a huge amount of experience in childcare and not being qualified I have been able to take away a large amount of what I have learned.’

Powys County Council, in conjunction with Powys Teaching Health Board are now offering a rolling programme of Incredible Beginnings courses for childcare staff.

Read the evaluation: 2021-2023 Evaluation of the Incredible Beginnings Program Delivered Remotely in Powys

Join us for Incredible Beginnings Program facilitator training – online!

Incredible Beginnings® Group Leader Online Tele-Session Training
Dates: October 10, 11, 18, 19, 25, & 26
Venue: Online (Zoom)
Led by: Kathleen Corrigan, M.Ed.
Cost: $1070 per person
Contact: incredibleyears@incredibleyears.com
April 2023 Incredible Beginnings Training Brochure And Registration Form

Families First continues their incredible work supporting families in Florida!

Since 2004, the UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI’S FAMILIES FIRST PROGRAM, funded by The Children’s Trust, has successfully provided evidence-based, relationship-focused, culturally competent, family strengthening parenting services for parents and caregivers with young children (birth to age 3) throughout Miami-Dade County. Goals include improving the system of care and building resources for parents, strengthening families and promoting optimal child health and development, ensuring the delivery of high-quality standardized parenting activities, ensuring that activities are culturally competent and sensitive, and enhancing parent and community involvement to optimize parent resources. Project activities are based on best- practice concepts from child development theory and research that supports the importance of promoting positive parent-child relationships to facilitate optimal child development.

Program Prevention and Intervention Activities

FAMILIES FIRST partners with over 20 community organizations, childcare facilities, and health care sites to implement and evaluate evidence-based, culturally competent parenting activities. Although enrollment is County-wide, many of the groups are conducted in neighborhoods that include: low-income high-risk families, teen mothers, and families of children with substance abuse issues and/or chronic health conditions. Services are offered in English and Spanish and groups are provided throughout the day to accommodate family interests, schedules, and needs.

Parenting Groups

FAMILIES FIRST offers FREE parenting groups for parents of children ages birth through 3 years throughout Miami-Dade County in both English and Spanish. Families First currently offers The Incredible Years Toddler Basic Parenting Program for parents/caregivers of children 1-3. Groups have broad enrollment outreach and are offered in community-based and childcare settings. This year, Families First will be offering the Incredible Years Baby Parenting Program.

Incredible Years Conversation Cards

For Parent Group leaders and parents, we have conversation card games that can be a fun way to support and enhance the parenting programs.

Parents Conversation Cards: Incredible Parents Ask Each Other

This card game can be used to facilitate discussion about parenting strategies and goals. It can be played with Incredible Years parent groups or with friends, group buddies, or between partners. 

During parenting groups, group leaders can introduce the Incredible Parents Conversation Cards mid-way through the program and then play it again on the last night as part of the final session celebration. The card game can also be given to parents as a prize to take home.

Half of the Incredible Parents Conversation Cards have questions focusing on the foundational part of the Incredible Years Parenting Pyramid – play, coaching, praise, and encouragement – and the other half has questions about handling misbehavior.

Parents take turns asking each other questions such as: “how do you find time to schedule some personal time for yourself?”, “what is the most fun thing you do with your child?”, “what is one way you used the attention principle successfully?”, and “what are two behaviors you look for when doing Incredible Years social coaching?”

Examples of questions from the section on handling misbehavior include: “how do you stay calm when using the ignoring strategy?”, “what are two good consequences for 5-6 year olds?”, and “what is one principle you have learned in Incredible Years that you have used successfully?”

Kids and Parents Conversation Cards

For parents of school age children aged 8 and older, we have Incredible Years Kids and Parents Conversation cards. This fun conversation game includes two card decks, one used by the child and the other used by parents. The adult and child take turns asking a question while the other answers. Example parent deck questions include, “what do you like to do best with me?”, “what are two important household rules?”, “what is the best way I can help with your homework?”, “what do you say to yourself to stay calm?”, “what is the hardest part about being a kid?”, “what would be the menu of your ultimate birthday dinner?” Example child deck questions include, “what can I do to earn a reward?”, “is it ever okay to tell a lie?”, “what is the story behind my name?”, “what do you like to do best with me?”, “what was I like as a preschooler?”, “when do you think I can baby-sit?”, “are there any projects we can work on together?”

Watch a video clip of game play:

Please visit our website to learn more about our Incredible Years Conversation cards!

Celebrating Incredible Years® implementation in Slovenia!

Incredible Years® Parenting Programs began in Slovenia in March 2015, for prevention and early intervention of conduct problems in children. To date, IY has trained 124 parent group leaders in Slovenia, and over 2000 parents have been reached with Incredible Years® Parenting Programs.

In 2018, the first Slovenian group leaders were trained to implement the Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management program. To date, IY has trained 40 teacher group leaders in Slovenia, and approximately 300 teachers have been reached with the IY TCM program.

This fall, Incredible Years® Program Developer Carolyn Webster-Stratton, PhD, prepared a video presentation for an event held on October 10th and 11th in Slovenia, with the Slovenian Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, as well as Ministry of Work, Families, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

In her presentation, Carolyn focused on the Incredible Years® Teacher programs (Teacher Classroom Management, Incredible Beginnings®, and the Teacher Autism program), and how the IY Teacher programs can be used to help support young children’s social & emotional competence and school readiness.

Incredible Years® Program Developer Carolyn Webster-Stratton discusses the Incredible Years® Teacher Training Programs

An estimated 70-100 people were planned to attend the event in Slovenia, including head teachers and school professionals, professionals from local mental health services, and Slovenian Incredible Years group leaders.

Congratulations to our friends in Slovenia for your commitment to supporting parents, teachers, and children in your community!