INCREDIBLE YEARS BASIC

PRESCHOOL PROGRAMME
Evidence Rating:
Assessed By: Commissioning Toolkit; OJP; NREPP; RAND; CEBC

Intended Outcomes: Improved parenting

Improved child behaviour

The Incredible Years (IY) Preschool Basic Programme is for parents with serious concerns about
the behaviour of a child between the ages of three and six. Parents attend 18 to 20 weekly
group sessions where they learn strategies for interacting positively with their child and
discouraging unwanted behaviour. IY Preschool Basic can be combined with Incredible Years
Advanced for families with more complex issues. Advanced is a ten to 12 week add-on
component that covers self-management and mental health issues.

IY Preschool Basic and Advanced have established evidence of providing long-term benefits for
parents and children, including a decreased risk of child maltreatment, improvements in
parents stress and depression, improved parenting skills and improvements in childrens
behaviour.

Where has it been implemented? Settings

The UK, the USA and internationally
Who can deliver it?
Lead Practitioner: QCF Level 6 in a helping
profession
Co-practitioner: QCF Level 4/5 in a helping
profession
Family home, Children's centre, School,
Community centre/faith-based centre,
Clinic/Health centre
Who is it for?
Age: Any parent with concerns about the
behaviour of a three to five year old child
Classification: Targeted; Specialist
Need: Moderate; High

Contact Info
Lisa St George - lisastgeorge@comcast.net

Carolyn Webster-Stratton - cwebsterstratton@comcast.net

Incredible Years BASIC Preschool Programme 2

How it works
What is the theory of change?
The Incredible Years model assumes that some parenting behaviours
inadvertently encourage unwanted child behaviour.
Parents will learn more effective strategies for dealing with unwanted child
behaviour when they have opportunities to practise and perceive themselves as
effective in using them.
Effective parenting strategies help the child learn how to better manage his or
her emotions and behaviour.
In the longer term, the child will get along better with others and there will be a
reduced likelihood of antisocial or criminal behaviour.

What happens during delivery?

How is it delivered?
IY Parent Preschool Basic Programme is delivered by a lead and co-practitioner
to groups of ten to 14 parents for 18 to 20 weeks.
When combined with Advanced, parents will attend between eight and ten
additional sessions, depending upon the needs of the target group.
Each session lasts two hours.
Practitioners also visit the parents in their homes prior to the start of the
programme.
Practitioners keep in touch with the parents individually through weekly phone
calls that take place throughout the course of the programme.

What happens during the intervention?

The Basic component provides parents with opportunities to practice effective
parenting skills such as child directed play; academic and social and emotional
coaching methods; how to establish consistent routines; teaching children to
problem solve, providing incentives for positive behaviour and using effective
strategies for discouraging unwanted behaviour.
The Advanced component helps parents develop self-management skills
including effective communication, anger and depression management;
problem solving; methods for conducting family meetings and conflict
resolution.

Early Intervention Foundation

Incredible Years BASIC Preschool Programme 3

What are the implementation

requirements?
Who can deliver it?
The lead practitioner is expected to have QCF level 6 with 4/5 a minimum in a
helping profession. The co-practitioner should have no less than a QCF level 4/5.
The practitioners should have some knowledge of child development and
experience working with parents.

What are the training requirements?

Practitioners attend a three day workshop to learn the content and strategies
for delivering the Toddler Basic programme.
Practitioners must attend an additional one day training course to deliver the
Advanced programme.
It is expected that all IY practitioners will submit themselves for accreditation
some point after their initial training.
Accreditation requires that the practitioner has done the following:
Completed the IY Basic training
Delivered two complete IY programmes and can provide all of the weekly parent
evaluations
Completed the standard protocols for parenting group sessions
Attended a one-day consultation where he or she delivers a video presentation
Received a satisfactory review from a certified IY mentor/trainer of a videotape
of them delivering the programme
Peer and self-evaluations
Strong recommendations from their agency.

How are the practitioners supervised?

Practitioner supervision is provided through the following processes:
In-house supervision provided by the host agency
Support from peer coaches who review videotapes of the practitioners
delivering IY sessions
Monthly telephone consultations with their IY mentor
IY workshops.

What are the systems for maintaining fidelity?

Programme fidelity is maintained through the following processes:
Fidelity checklists completed by the practitioners after each session
Weekly evaluations completed by the parents
The use of monitoring and evaluation protocols
The accreditation process (see above)
Ongoing supervision with peers and mentors
Workshops with the programme developer and ongoing consultation.

Early Intervention Foundation

Incredible Years BASIC Preschool Programme 4

Projected Costs and Benefits

This information is not yet available.

Evidence
IY Preschool Basic has established evidence of improving parenting behaviours and
child outcomes from multiple randomised controlled trials. Three of these are
described below:

Webster-Stratton, C. (1984). Randomised trial of two parent-training programmes

for families with conduct-disordered children, Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 52, 666 678.
Improvements in mothers self-reports of their in childrens behaviour
Improvements of mothers self-reports of their parenting skills.

Hutchings, J., Bywater, T., Daley, D., Gardner, F., Whitaker, C., Jones, K., Eames, C.,
and Edwards, R.T., (2007). Parenting intervention in Sure Start services for children
at risk of developing conduct disorder: pragmatic randomised controlled trial. BMJ,
334, 678.
Improvements in mothers self-reports of their in childrens behaviour
Improvements of mothers self-reports of their parenting skills.

Scott S, Spender Q, Doolan M, Jacobs B and Aspland H. (2001) Multicentre controlled

trial of parenting groups for child antisocial behaviour in clinical practice. British
Medical Journal, 323, 194 197.
Significant improvements in parenting skills assessed through video-taped coding
Significant improvements in childrens behaviour assessed through video-taped
coding.

Early Intervention Foundation