INCREDIBLE YEARS

Participant Stories

Parent Program

"When my wife signed me up for this class, I expected that I would learn how to make Justin change into a good kid. I was so surprised when I learned how I could change into a good parent!"

Veronica's Story

Veronica was a single mother of three young children who participated in a parent group in Denver. When she started the group she was at her whit's end becuase of the horrible behavior of her children. As a single parent she struggled to set boundaries because she didn't want her children to resent her. She attended the parent group every week, without fail. Six months after the parent group ended she ran into the parent group leader and explained that she had continued using the skills that she learned in the group. Another six months passed and she ran into the parent group leader again. This time she expressed her delight that the parent group had provided her with the tools she needed to have a peaceful and loving household. She exclaimed that the lessons she had learned not only changed the behavior of one of her children, but they helped to change her whole family.

One Mother's Story

Being a fulltime stepmom of two children ages 11 and 12, and a biological mother to a 5 and 1 1/2 year old kept one parent extremely busy. Along with claiming to have a lack of quality time to spend with her children, she felt a large amount of stress at home. This parent decided to enroll in a parent group because her stepchildren not only would not listen to her, but were openly defiant and telling lies to their father to make friction in their marital relationship. On top of this, she felt accustations of favoritism were constantly arising. She joined the Incredible Years Parent group almost half way through the series at week six. In just fix weeks, she was able to see amazing results.

After attending the Parent group, she is more organized at home and is a more proactive parent. She feels confident in her ability as a parent and is spending more time with her children. The communication situation in the home has also improved immensely--between her husband and all her children. By praising positive behaviors and applying the lessons learned at the Parent Group, her relationship with both her biological and stepchildren has improved. She is also seeing even more tangible results as her step daughter's school grades have risen. As a result of participating in The Incredible Years Parent Group, this overstressed mother has seen great outcomes and is much happier!

"We have a grandmother in our parent group who is very resistant to the idea of playing and giving positive attention. We were discussing praise and pitfalls of giving praise but then taking its effects away when it is followed by a "but" negative. We could see the light bulb go on for this grandmother. She remembered as a child setting the table and her mother saying "thank you for setting the table but the next time, will you wash the table first?" After 50 plus years this grandmother still remembers that hurt!"

Child/Teacher Program

"Children love talking about feelings and love pretending to 'feel' different emotions. Dinosaur School has given us a forum for kids to talk about emotions and events in their lives which has been so beneficial for the children. The feelings part of Dinosaur School has definitely taught my kids their favorite lessons so far!"

"Teaching in a classroom with some very challenging social and emotional behaviors was very overwhelming. Dinosaur School has given me some extremely useful and effective strategies for increasing positive behavior. Yeahhh!!!"

"I have been blown away by the quality of the staff associated with Dinosaur School/Incredible Years. They are knowledgeable, motivated, and always willing to go above and beyond to help us out in any way possible. The support that they are capable of and the enthusiasm behind it motivates me to be the best teacher I can be."

"The Dinosaur School Program has provided our teachers with the knowledge, ideas, materials, and strategies to assist them in their work with young children. This is the first comprehensive, developmentally appropriate social/emotional tool that I've seen for preschool aged students. This program provides teachers and staff with the support they need to be successful in their classrooms. What makes this program unique is that the training staff is available at a moment's notice to help guide the staff in implementing the curriculum. Every time that the training staff leaves, the teachers are rejuvenated and ready to tackle the daily challenges in the classroom."

Stories from the Classroom

"We had just finished reviewing the rules of Dinosaur School. Riley, who faces daily challenges with special issues, was once again poking the child ext to him. So Dina, with her keen sense of teaching wisdom, decided to use the proximal praise technique. She commented to a nearby child, "Wow! That's super that Omar is remembering the rule about keeping his hands to himself!" Then Riley, with his keen sense of four-year-old logic remarked, "Dina, sometimes my brain remembers the rules but my hands don't!"

"While teaching the kids the 'give me five' I was going over what each finger represented. When it came to the middle finger--eyes on teacher--one boy said 'that's a bad finger!' I told him, 'no, it's just a finger.' That evening the boy was having a big family dinner. The family was asking him what he learned at school that day. The boy then held up his middle finger and said, 'I learned about this.' His family told him that was not appropriate to do. He said, 'but my teacher does it, it means eyes on the teacher.'"

"I have had an extremely difficult morning class this year. The first week my assistant and I were blown away and had no idea what to do with the 8 out of 16 children who were literally climbing furniture, screaming, hitting and running around the room. I called for help the second day (thinking it was just me) but everyone who came to my room was also blown away and realized I needed help. Day 4--I frantically looked for Dina. Not having planned or prepared, I just pulled Dina out of the box and the most amazing thing happened. All 16 children sat, quietly in a circle in amazement at Dina. Wow, it worked! They could actually focus on something. So, for five minutes everyday, I am able to breathe and can get my high number of high needs children to focus on Dina. We just talk about what is going on, how the children are doing and Dina hugs everyone of them everyday."