Program Goals

The goals of DCCTF's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP; Authored by CICC) are:

• Prevent and Treat Child Abuse
• Prevent and Treat Child Behavior Disorders
• Reduce Parental Stress
• Reduce Parental Contributors to Child Substance Abuse
• Improve Child School Performance
• Cope Better with the Effects of Racism and Prejudice
• Teach Tolerance
• Strengthen Family Cohesion

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for DCCTF's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP; Authored by CICC).

Essential Components

The essential components of DCCTF's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP; Authored by CICC) include:

• Pinpointing and Describing Behavior: Parents are taught how to pinpoint the specific behaviors that they would like to see their children engage in more frequently and those they would like to see less of. This pinpointing involves not only being specific about observable behaviors, but indicating where and when the parent would like to see more or less of them (at bedtime, in the morning, at the dinner table, etc.)
• Behavior-Specific Praise: Behavior-Specific Praise consists of seven behavioral components: (1) looking at the child, (2) moving close to the child, (3) smiling at the child, (4) saying positive things to the child, (5) praising the child's behavior and not the child, (6) being physically affectionate with the child, and (7) moving into action immediately upon recognizing desirable behavior.
• Mild Social Disapproval: Mild Social Disapproval is intended to decrease the repeated misbehavior of children and establish limits to the child's behaviors. It also consists of seven behavioral components: (1) looking at the child, (2) moving close the child, (3) a disapproving facial expression, (4) a brief verbal comment or command, (5) low intensity, (6) non-verbal gesture consistent with disapproval, and (7) immediate delivery. The verbal component is to be disapproving in content, but not demeaning or threatening. The emphasis is on simple and brief commands such as "Stop that!" rather than "You're a naughty girl" or "If you don't stop doing that, I'm going to get the strap."
• Ignoring: The essence of this ignoring skill is that it be used consistently in response to the behaviors that it seeks to reduce. It consists of five behavioral components: (1) looking away form the child, (2) moving away from the child, (3) neutral facial expression, (4) ignoring the child's verbalizations, and (5) ignoring immediately upon noticing the misbehavior.
• Time Out: Time Out is a form of punishment that is used when all else fails and the child's behavior has exceeded reasonable limits. The child is removed from social interaction and attention. The Time Out is explained to the child as having to go to a "cooling off" place for a short period of time when her/his behavior has gone too far.
• Special Incentive System: This system consists of having the child earn points, stars, or tokens for engaging in specified desirable behaviors. The child turns these in for various tangible rewards and/or special privileges. The rewards or privileges are chosen from a Reward Menu which is negotiated cooperatively by the parent and the child. The components of Special Incentive Programs are: (1) defining desirable behavior, (2) counting the target behavior(s), (3) creating the reward menu, (4) establishing the exchange ratio, i.e., how many stars for what rewards, (5) charting of behaviors, (6) praise for positive behavior changes, (7) program adjustments, and (8) phasing out the program.
• The other units of instruction in the program are "The Confident Parenting Approach and the Needs and Rights of Children and Parents," "Why Kids Do What They Do," "Family Rules and Child Behavior," "The Thinking Parent's Strategy," "Parenting Adolescents," "Parenting, the Media and Technology," "Our Children, Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drugs," "Scientific Research on Parenting Patterns and Physical Punishment," and "When and How to Consult Professionals."
• There is also a video program that presents and describes many of the skills that are available in the program. The video is called "Yelling, Threatening and Putting Down: What To Do Instead." The video itself can be used as a standalone program.
• Flexible group parenting classes are available in several formats:
• A 6-session format (two hours per session) using the 6 instructional units described at the beginning of this section.
• Another small group version using selected instructional units
• A 15-session format (two hours per session) using all of the instructional units
• A one day seminar format for large groups of parents using a limited number of units

Program Delivery

Parent/Caregiver Services

DCCTF's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP; Authored by CICC) directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• Parents with child management problems like disruptiveness, disobedience, restlessness, tantrums, bedwetting, shyness, aggressiveness, laziness, and fears, and parents who have been reported for child abuse and/or neglect

Recommended Intensity:

Two-hour basic training sessions per week for some or all units of instruction in this program; or one-day for abbreviated seminar format

Recommended Duration:

10 consecutive weeks, with either monthly booster sessions; or the opportunity to take the entire program for a second time

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Adoptive Home
• Birth Family Home
• Foster / Kinship Care
• Hospital
• Outpatient Clinic
• Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider
• Group or Residential Care
• School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)

Homework

DCCTF's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP; Authored by CICC) includes a homework component:

Parents complete homework assignments between each training session, including such assignments as counting the child behaviors which they seek to change, applying praise and other such skills three times a day to interaction with the target child, applying and charting the impact of the use of various skills, and creating and using a home special incentive system.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

• The Parent Handbooks with program and skill descriptions
• An overhead projector and screen
• Laptop computer
• DVD player
• Dry-erase board
• Pens and eraser
• Space for 8-12 parents with enough room to break into dyads for skill practice

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

The program is designed to be led by one instructor who presents the program, demonstrates and models the skills, and provides individual consultations to parents on their home behavior change projects. Practitioners ranging from paraprofessional prevention specialists and parent involvement coordinators to children service workers with Bachelor's level degrees to PhD level psychologists have been trained to deliver the program. It is best to have had prior training in behavior modification or behavior analysis as well as education and training in child development and group dynamics.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Kinaya C. Sokoya, EdD
  DC Children's Trust Fund
  ksokoya@gmail.com
  phone: (202) 299-0900

Training Type/Location:

On-site on a contractual basis or by enrolling in scheduled workshops in different cities

Number of days/hours:

Five 6.5-hour training days

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for DCCTF's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP; Authored by CICC).

Additional References