Incredible Years Parenting Program - Dinosaur Social Skills Program
15 or 16 week parenting program that was designed (by Carolyn Webster-Stratton) to help parents learn new ways of managing their 6 - 8 year old children’s challenging behaviour; it helps parents improve their relationships with their children. Facilitators use a variety of techniques, including videotapes of parent-child interactions, to demonstrate effective strategies. Previous research on the Incredible Years Parenting Program demonstrates that:
- It reduces children’s aggressive and disruptive behaviour
- It reduces parents’ report of stress
- It increases children’s positive behaviour and social skills
- It increases parents’ report of confidence in parenting
- It increases parents’ effectiveness in disciplining their children
The Incredible Years Parenting Program has complementary child (Dinosaur Social Skills) groups:
- Children learn about feelings, school perfomance, and building teamwork
- Children are encouraged to talk about real-life examples and events where they have tried out their new skills
Coping Power
Coping Power is a well-established social-cognitive intervention program for children aged 9 - 12 and their parents, developed by Dr. John Lochman and colleagues. The clinic-adapted 15 week program is supported by evdience and the full program has undergone much evaluation describing its effectiveness in reducing disruptive childhood behaviour (Lochman & Lenhart, 1993; Lochman & Wells, 2003, 2004).
- Coping Power targets development of children's social-cognitive and social problem-solving skills based on research evidence showing how these factors contribute to disruptive child behaviour.
- The Coping Power program has complementary child and parent groups. Both are important components of the group treatment.
- The child group helps children develop problem-solving and emotional coping skills.
- The parent group helps parents develop behaviour management strategies and stress management skills.
- Coping Power has been successfully implemented in mental health and educational centres in Ontario and abroad.
