The Incredible Years: A Trouble-Shooting Guide for Parents of Children Aged 3-8

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Incredible Years is a group-based social learning model program for parents, teachers and children that reduces challenging behaviors in children and increases social and emotional learning and self-control skills. Develops parenting skills and increases parents' involvement in children's school experience.

The programme has now been implemented in over 20 countries around the world. These include Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Palestine, New Zealand, Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Denmark, The Netherlands, Russia, Finland, Sweden.The Incredible Years programme has been implemented in numerous places and contexts. In Manchester (England) the intervention has been delivered by the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s Children and Parents Service (CAPS). In the city, at least 20 per cent of the city’s population of 34,000 under-fives is at risk of having or developing behavioural problems. Status — Participants were first-generation Korean American mothers of young children (3-8 years old). This is a summary of Gardner, Frances., and Leijten, Patty., and Mann, Joanna., and Landau, Sabine., and Harris, Victoria., and Beecham, Jennifer., and Bonin, Eva-Maria., and Hutchings, Judy., and Scott, Stephen. (2017). Could scale-up of parenting programmes improve child disruptive behaviour and reduce social inequalities? Using individual participant data meta-analysis to establish for whom programmes are effective and cost effective. Public Health Research, 2017, 5(10). The training teaches the following content: child-directed play, academic, persistence, social and emotional coaching, praise and encouragement, predictable routines, effective limit setting, nonphysical discipline alternatives, teaching children to problem solve, and supporting children’s education. The training will also teach how to use this program as a prevention program in elementary schools and preschools. From these interventions, the proportion of families at risk of neglect or abuse fell from 86 per cent before the intervention, to 56 per cent afterwards. Parents presenting signs of clinical depression fell from 68 per cent to 19 per cent and the proportion of parents with clinical stress fell from 72 per cent to 12 per cent.

This is not a program for children with significant behavior or developmental problems or family mental health difficulties, although it may be used as a supplement to the Basic program or for follow up booster sessions.

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The Incredible Years Parents, Teachers and Children’s Series are evidence-based programs evaluated in numerous randomized control group studies by the developer and other independent researchers to prevent and treat behavior problems in young children. This series was selected as a Blueprints for Violence Prevention program in 2001 because it was shown to reduce risk factors for violence and crime. Additionally the programs have been shown to promote protective factors such as positive parenting and teaching focused on strengthening children’s social and emotional competence and school readiness. This training will prepare group leaders to lead three different basic parenting programs: (1) Toddler Parenting Program (ages 1-3 years) which is 13 weekly sessions; (2) Preschool Parenting Program (ages 3-6 years) which is 18-20 sessions; and (3) School-Age Parenting Program (ages 6-8 years) which is 16 sessions (four additional sessions for the Supporting your Child’s Education component). Conduct problems have been shown to be the single most important predicting factor of later chronic antisocial behaviour problems. These can include poor mental health, academic underachievement, early school leaving, teenage parenthood, delinquency, unemployment and substance abuse. Many young people displaying these behaviour problems go on to engage in youth offending, family violence, and ultimately serious adult crime. Webster-Stratton, C. (2009). Affirming diversity: Multi-cultural collaboration to deliver the Incredible Years parent programs. International Journal of Child Health and Human Development, 2, 17–32.