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Can I refer myself to a parenting course? This is dependent on which service is delivering the group course 

How long are the courses?  The course length is normally 2 hours long, one day a week, over 12-16 weeks, dependent on the course. There will be no groups in the Half-Term/Bank Holiday Dates

Can I bring my child with me? Only in the Incredible Years Baby Group can the child attend with the parent, and the child must be under 6 months old.

Cost? Currently there is no cost to the parent as all the parent courses are sponsored by a range of funding grants. The only expense to the parent is your travel costs. Refreshments are also free!

What am I going to get out of it? Feedback from the parents who have undertaken the courses state they get an abundant amount of knowledge and support.

Knowledge comes in various forms, such as: more positive time with your children and other family members, causing less family stress; not getting into power struggles with your children; guidelines on how to focus on positives rather than negatives.

Support  will be offered throughout the Programme by the Group facilitators. As the parents get to know each other, so the support grows amongst them and this support system can be on-going.

There are many other things that you will get out of being in the Group such as having time with other adults; not feeling that you are on your own and that you are the only one that has the difficulties.

What is the average size of the group? Normally about 10-16 parents per course.

If I don’t get the answers I need is there a next step? The group facilitators are very approachable and friendly and will always suggest where to get further advice and information where possible.

What will be expected of me as an individual? There is an expectation for you to attend at least 80% of the course and take part in home activities i.e. you may be asked to spend extra time with your child on a certain activity, such as playing with your child, or reading to them. This is to help you fully benefit from the programme. Spending the time with your children will help any difficulties that you came across on that given activity, being explored within the group

Is this the Group for me?  Each group will be dependent on the age of your child/children. For instance, Incredible Years School-Aged Programme accommodates parents of children aged 4-10 years and will cover a range of behavioural difficulties, this Group will also help parents of children that have traits, or have been diagnosed with ADHD, ADD,  and with some aspects of Autism. Please check jargon list.

STOP (A Supportive Programme for parents of Teens) will accommodate parents of children aged 10 to 16 years and will cover a range of behavioural difficulties.

 How does the AS incredible years course for parents with additional needs compliment MAZE? Yes, it does compliment MAZE . The content topics in the incredible years AS course are ;
• Child-Directed Narrated Play Promotes Positive Relationships
• Pre-Academic and Persistence Coaching Promotes Language Development
• and School Readiness
• Social Coaching Promotes Friendship Skills
• Emotion Coaching Promotes Emotional Literacy
• Pretend Play Promotes Empathy and Social Skills
• Promoting Children’s Self-Regulation Skills
• Using Praise and Rewards to Motivate Children
• Limit Setting and Behaviour Management

Is the AS IY course it so similar to MAZE that it is better to send a parent to one or the other or do you think there are benefits of a parent attending both?  I have had parents do both courses and they find it really helpful .

Directions to the Ministry of Parenting venue- directions

Local hotels and B&B’s in Colchester – hotels-and-bed-breakfasts-2-pdf

Start time? – Normally start at 9.30 – finish 4.30pm

Are the Baby and Toddler Training combined? – Please note that the 0-3 Training is not a combined Training. Baby (0-6months) Training is a 2 day course and Toddler is a 3 day course. The toddler training is included the Early Years Training (1-6 years)

Parents with Literacy issues- We don’t have a programme especially for parents with literacy issues but this something I deal with in every group.  In the Incredible Years Training (IY) there is a CD of the book to aid parents. The teaching content of all out group programmes are very visual and discussion based so we can met the needs with literacy issues

Retention rates of the programme: This is very dependent on area and referral root but on average a 3^rd of all referred don’t attend the introduction or first session and then over the course of a group about a 3^rd will attend over 80% of the courses.

Inclusivity to black and ethnic minorities: The IY and STOP groups are not inclusivity to black and ethnic minorities but the IY programmes have hand-outs in different languages (see www.incredibleyears.com – under resources)  I have delivered the STOP programme to ethnic groups in Colchester Essex and the groups were successful

Teenage parents: The IY programme is used for this target group – the most popular programmes have been the Baby and toddler IY groups.

Step parents- We do not have a separate programme for this target group as they appear to sit comfortably within the IY and STOP groups.

Parents of the 0-12yrs – We train and implement the incredible year (IY) groups – This is, I believe, the best programme for this age group – www.incredibleyears.com or www.incredibleyearswales.com

Parents of the 12-16yrs-  We use the stop programme – see attached – please note that as yet STOP has not had a controlled trail, see useful reading for the latest reports from Warwick University and West Berks on the STOP outcomes; Also the 2011 STOP report from Essex. We also have a programme called FLASH (families learning about self-harm) which is targeted at parents of children (10plus) who are self-harming.

Effectiveness with Children and young people with ADHD- Again the IY programme is excellent here – the school aged IY group and we have protocol for parents with children with ADHD.

Is the baby and toddler training combined? Please note that the 0-3 training is not a combined training- the baby (0-6months) training is a 2 day course and the toddler is a 3 day – the toddler training is included the early years training.(1-6 years )

How do I go about accreditation? Click to download information

Manuals: all manuals were updated in 2008 (the old ones are still useable)

Is the IY School Aged Training for Professionals working with Parents of Children aged 5-12 is the same course as the Incredible Years training course (for children aged 2-8 years)? The school aged training is NOT the same as the IY 2-8, the trainings and programmes were updated in 2008. If you have done the basic IY training pre 2008 or the early years 2-8 training then you can do the school aged programme but advised up to 8 years only. The school aged training covers the ages 5-9-12 years (the vignettes are to that age group and the discussion topic relate more to the pre-teen issues). Also if you have already done the basic IY training pre 2008 or the early years 2-8 training early years 3 day training you DO NOT need to do the school aged 3 day course but only a one day up date . The ministry of parenting run these days in Colchester, Essex

What is the difference between the updated programs and the old programs? Currently our revised and updated Preschool and School Age BASIC programs include new topics on academic, persistence, social and emotional coaching as well as new content regarding predictability of daily routines and schedules for children and important developmental tasks of a particular age group. The Preschool BASIC program has substantial new content related to developmental tasks including ways to teach children to problem-solve, self-regulate and develop emotional literacy. The School Age BASIC program has additional content related to household chores, rules regarding computer use and drugs, after school monitoring and homework coaching. In addition to new content, there are also new vignettes showing a greater diversity of families representing different cultural backgrounds and children with varying temperaments and developmental issues. The Toddler program has been separated from the Preschool BASIC program in order to emphasize specific developmental tasks for this age range and home toddler-proofing one’s home, to promote Preschool Readiness and language skills and also to remove strategies inappropriate for this age range (e.g., incentives, time-out and problem solving). Again, added multicultural vignettes are provided and new activities for toddlers include less costly everyday items such as kitchen utensils, pots and pans, water and rocks.

I am trained in more than one parent program; is it acceptable to combine parents of children of different ages in the same group? It is important that groups are not comprised of parents of children ages ranging from 0-12 years. Separate groups should be recruited for the baby program (babies 6 months or younger at first meeting), toddler program (ages 1-2 ½ years), preschool program (3-6 years), early school age (6-8 years) and preadolescence (9-12 years). Each of these programs focuses on the major developmental tasks of these specific age groups and helps parents learn about normal development and to have age appropriate expectations and discipline strategies. While families will have other children of different ages and group leaders will help them learn strategies for these children as well, the main focus of the training is on one specified age range. Combining strategies for older children with younger children can be confusing for parents and they may start to mix up strategies in developmentally inappropriate ways. In order to assure the soundest learning, it strongly recommended that the training remain more focused on one developmental age and not become too complex.

Please read ‘Becoming certified’ on the incredible years web site https://www.incredibleyears.com/training/certification