The preschool and early grades are a strategic time to intervene directly with children and an optimal time to facilitate social competence. Research has shown that a significant relationship exists between poor peer relationships in early childhood and long-term social and emotional maladjustment (Loeber, 1985). In the absence of treatment, child conduct problems intensify after the child begins school, putting the child at increased risk for peer rejection and poor social skill development (Loeber and Dishion, 1983). Before the middle grades, most children already have had at least 5 to 6 years of experience with peer groups because they have participated in daycare centers and preschools since they were toddlers. Young aggressive children may have already established a pattern of social difficulty in the preschool years that continues and becomes fairly stable by the middle school years. Many children with conduct problems have already been asked to leave four or five schools by the time they are 6 years old, and by the middle school grades, the aggressive child's negative reputation and peer group and parental rejection may be well established (Coie, 1990). Even if the child learns appropriate and effective social skills during the middle grades, this pattern of rejection may make it difficult for the child to use these skills to change his or her image (Bierman and Furman, 1984). Thus, intervening at a young age can help children develop effective social skills early and reduce their aggressive behaviors before these behaviors and reputations develop into permanent patterns. Moreover, even though parent training is likely to affect parent-child relationships at home, it is less likely to impact peer relationships. To address peer problems, children must receive small-group training in problem-solving and social skills, and trained teachers must monitor and reinforce the use of such skills at school (Webster-Stratton and Hammond, 1997).

Content and Program Mechanics

There are six child training programs (seven units) in the series: Making Friends and Learning School Rules, Understanding and Detecting Feelings, Detective Wally Teaches Problem-Solving Steps (which includes a unit on anger management), Molly Manners Teaches How To Be Friendly, Molly Explains How To Talk With Friends, and Dina Dinosaur Teaches How To Do Your Best in School. The series consists of a leader's manual, children's and parents' handouts, children's books, detective home activities manuals, games and activities, and nine videotapes.

Treatment model. For treatment of children with conduct problems, the first five programs are offered to groups of five or six children in 2-hour sessions held once a week for 22 weeks. If the series is sequenced beginning with the onset of the school year, then program number 6 (Dina Dinosaur Teaches How To Do Your Best in School) should be offered right after program 1 (Making Friends and Learning School Rules) and followed by the other four programs in the order listed above.

Prevention model. The series can also be offered as a classroomwide curriculum to promote social and emotional competence in all children (preschool through grade three). It is implemented two to three times a week in 20- to 30-minute circle time discussions accompanied by 20-minute practice activities during the day. The sixth program of the teacher training series, developed in 1998, consists of five videotapes and manuals that show teachers how to use the Dinosaur curriculum as a prevention program with large groups of students. See table 7 for a list of the content and objectives of these child training programs.

Training Methods

• Videotape modeling. Younger children usually benefit more from a concrete performance-based approach, such as videotape modeling, than they do from a purely cognitive or verbal approach. Although no comprehensive videotape modeling treatments have been designed to train aggressive children in prosocial skills, research attests to the effects of television on children's behaviors (Singer, 1982; Singer and Singer, 1983). Reviews of research show convincingly that children learn a great deal from television. Unfortunately, this learning may be harmful without adult mediation, especially in the case of aggressive cartoons and violent news programs (Singer, 1985; Singer and Singer, 1983). Few age-specific television programs are designed to enhance prosocial behavior in children, with the exception of Mister Rogers, which was designed for preschoolers. Available data suggest that children show a significant increase in positive behaviors after watching this program (Singer and Singer, 1983). Young children learn best from programs that are paced slowly at comprehensible levels and include adult voice-overs or "real" adults who explain visual action sequences (Singer, 1982).

  The Dina Dinosaur curriculum uses videotape modeling in every session. The scenes selected for each unit are based on interactions that occur naturally between children at home, at school, or in the University of Washington's Parenting Clinic's laboratory playroom. In addition, the leader and puppets serve as coping models (as opposed to expert models) who self-disclose and share mistakes with the children in problem-solving discussions.

• Fantasy play and instruction. Fantasy play provides the context for this program because a high level of sociodra-matic play in preschool children is associated with sustained and reciprocal verbal interaction and high levels of affective role-taking (Connolly and Doyle, 1984). Fantasy play gives children the opportunity to develop intimacy (Gottman and Parkhurst, 1980) and work out emotional issues (Gottman, 1987). For children of preschool age, sociodramatic play is an important context for the development of perspective taking, social participation, group cooperation, and intimacy skills. It is also a skill to be fostered.

  In this curriculum, the children are instructed by using near life-sized human puppets and a variety of animal puppets. These puppets narrate the videotaped scenes and give information about key concepts. For example, when the children first come to "Dinosaur School," Dina the Dinosaur teaches them about the school's "dinosaur rules." The children learn how to earn tangible rewards ("dinosaur chips") for good behaviors. They learn which behaviors are prohibited and what the consequences are for breaking a rule. Tiny, the turtle puppet, teaches children how to control anger by using their "shells" as protection when they become angry. Wally Problem-Solver and Molly Manners teach them how to solve problems such as being teased or bullied by others, feeling left out, lying and stealing, coping with disappointment, being afraid and anxious, and making new friends.

• Role-playing. Role-playing activities provide opportunities to practice new skills and experience different perspectives. For example, a difficult situation may be role-played with the child as the parent and the leader as the child. A regular activity in the classes is to play the "let's suppose" game. The children role-play a situation such as "Suppose your mother was angry at you for breaking her best vase. What would you do?" With children ages 4 to 6, the role-playing can be acted out by a child and a leader while the second leader sits with the remaining children and helps them think of alternative responses. Older children put on skits in pairs with one leader acting as coach.

  Themes for the role-plays are based on the leader's knowledge of each child's unique family situation and particular needs. For example, children who have experienced traumas such as physical or sexual abuse will have role-plays initiated by the puppets demonstrating what to do when confronted with an angry parent or a situation involving personal safety. Children who have experienced loss such as the death of a parent or divorce will engage in role-plays that center around the fear of abandonment or anger at a parent for disappearing. In addition, children's ongoing and current problems such as being teased or rejected at school by peers, being sent home with a note from the teacher, being sent to timeout, or running away from school are also the scripts for role-plays and for practicing appropriate solutions. Programs are tailored to help children with their individual needs and to teach them a common set of appropriate social skills and conflict management strategies.

• Activities. Targeted play skills are practiced through cooperative art projects; guessing games; creative activities with blocks and clay; feeling, "let's suppose," and bingo games; and plays. There are also four children's books specifically written to promote effective problem solving around common conflict situations that occur at home or at school (see list). Activities designed for this curriculum not only address social and emotional issues, but they also address academic skills such as reading, writing, school readiness, fine and gross motor, language and communication, cognitive and creative, following direction, and listening.

• Feedback and reinforcement. During the sessions, the leader rewards each child's appropriate behaviors and ability to follow the rules by labeling the behavior, praising it, and giving tangible rewards. Midway through the curriculum, the behavior goals are individualized according to each child's specific needs. For example, one child might work for a reward by staying seated and not interrupting the leader, while another works to find three positive solutions to a problem. Toward the end of the curriculum, leaders give out tangible rewards less frequently and maintain behaviors with praise and attention.

• Fostering skills maintenance and generalization. The children are encouraged to use their new skills outside the training environment. Because pre-schoolers find this difficult, leaders make great efforts to help children apply the skills learned in training to their homes, classrooms, and playgrounds. Parents and teachers are also asked to reinforce the concepts taught. For each session, letters are sent to parents and teachers explaining the children's behaviors that should be reinforced at home and at school. For each unit, children are given a detective home activities manual that they are asked to do at home and to have parents sign off when completed. When a certain number of activities are completed for each unit, the children receive the dinosaur button for that unit. Ideally, parents are also given training in social skills so they can reinforce the concepts at home.

As for parent group leaders, child group leader certification by the developer of the Incredible Years Training Series is highly recommended and is required if the program is to be evaluated as part of a research program. This certification process is identical to the process required for certified parent group leaders and mentors.

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The Incredible Years Training Series	Juvenile Justice Bulletin • June 2000