Programs

The Families Moving Forward (FMF) Program is a manualized, yet individualized, behavioral consultation intervention. FMF is tailored for families raising children 3–12 years with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), and clinically concerning behavior problems.

The FMF Program offers a specialized intervention approach delivered by trained providers. Clinically, FMF combines positive behavior support techniques with motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral treatment. FMF offers:

• Caregiver support and coaching
• Psychoeducation on PAE effects, treatment-relevant FASD information, and advocacy
• Anticipatory guidance and skill building in caregiver use of proactive parenting strategies (e.g., accommodations)
• Behavior planning
• Targeted school and provider consultation, and community resource linkages, are also offered.

Alert Program® provides an organizing framework and process to address issues of self-regulation for both children and adolescents. The program is designed to take complex sensory processing information related to modulation and self-regulation, and make it accessible for the lay person through:

• Capitalizing on the higher cognitive functioning by using the cortex for thinking through self-regulation options, to help individuals recognize problems with lower-level functioning
• Improving sensorimotor regulation which contributes to improved emotional, social, and behavioral regulation, as well as improved executive functioning.
• Focusing on helping individuals learn to monitor, maintain, and change their level of alertness so that it is appropriate to a situation or task.

Alert Program® consists of activities that incorporate sensory integration techniques with cognitive approaches. Knowledge of self-regulation and a repertoire of sensorimotor strategies enhance one's ability to learn, interact with others, and work or play within varied environments, in addition to building self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-monitoring skills.

Parents and Children Together (PACT) is a group therapy intervention for foster and adopted children who were affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and their parents/caregivers. PACT is based on the premise that difficulties with self-regulation contribute to the day-to-day challenges experienced by children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), including executive functioning deficits and emotional dysregulation. The program is designed to teach children to recognize individual deficit areas and to develop strategies to compensate for areas of weakness, all while building upon existing skills and strengths. The development of this group treatment model integrated techniques and interventions utilized in therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) with components of the Alert Program^®, curriculum that helps children improve self-regulatory skills by teaching children how to first identify their arousal level and then how to choose appropriate interventions to alter their arousal level based on situational demands.

GoFAR is a manualized intervention program for parents and children ages 4 to 9 years old with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) whom have problems with self-regulation and adaptive functioning. GoFAR aims to improve self-regulation, reduce disruptive behavior, and improve adaptive functioning in the home. The GoFAR program focuses on disorders of affective and cognitive control that are central to behavioral and adaptive disorders from infancy through young adulthood. By school age, such problems often present as attentional problems, deficits in executive functioning, and disorders in conduct and behavior. GoFAR addresses these problems in young children by bringing together computer game technology and behavioral techniques for affective and cognitive control. The methodology is based on previous work that suggests that a metacognitive technique (FAR: – Focus/Plan,– Act, – Reflect) is helpful in improving behavioral and educational outcomes in FASD. An important element is the GoFAR computer game, which supports the understanding and development of metacognitive control techniques and reinforces its use by clinically referred children, ages 5 to 10 years old. The game is incorporated into a 10-week, manualized intervention program, which focuses on improving adaptive functioning and behavior.

The Families on Track Integrated Preventive Intervention Program is based on developmental psychopathology theory and promotes positive developmental trajectories for children with FASD or PAE and their families. It targets important risk and protective factors during the key transition period around school entry (child ages 4 to 8). The 30-week multi-component program integrates two existing programs. Children receive the preschool/kindergarten Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS curriculum in a weekly small group format, including positive peer models. Parents/caregivers receive the Families Moving Forward (FMF) Program every other week, individually, typically within their homes. The FMF Program also includes targeted school and provider consultation. A neuropsychological and diagnostic evaluation is recommended at the start of the program to promote the protective factor of early diagnosis and to characterize the child’s individual neuropsychological profile for use in FMF caregiver sessions.

Project TND is an interactive classroom-based substance abuse prevention program for youth who are at risk for drug use and violence-related behavior. It focuses on three factors that predict tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, violence-related behaviors, and other problem behaviors among youth, including: (a) Motivation factors (e.g., students' attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and desires regarding drug use); (b) Skills (e.g., effective communication, social self-control, and coping skills); and (c) Decision-making (i.e., how to make decisions that lead to health-promoting behaviors).

The curriculum contains twelve 40-50 minute interactive sessions taught by teachers or health educators over a 3-week period. Sessions provide instruction in motivation activities to not use drugs; skills in self-control, communication, and resource acquisition; and decision-making strategies. The program is delivered universally, and can be used in both traditional and alternative, high-risk high schools.

Boys Town In-Home Family Services (BT-IHFS) is an in-home parent skills-based service for parents/caregivers with children at-risk for involvement in the child welfare system or out-of-home placement. The program includes family engagement, assessment, service planning, parent and life skills training using an adapted version of Common Sense Parenting®, assisting with resources and supports, and case closure planning. BT-IHFS was developed to serve families with high caregiver strain, ineffective parenting strategies, difficulty accessing formal and informal supports, and children with significant emotional and behavioral needs. The BT-IHFS program has a hypothesized theory of change that starts with the provision of individualized, needs-driven services to families with a focus on building strong relationships through quick engagement interactions. The primary method is to provide coaching on parenting skills and connect the family to needed community resources or supports.

Resourceful Adolescent Program-Adolescent (RAP-A) was developed to meet the need for a universal resilience building program for teenagers which could be readily implemented in a school setting. A universal program targets all teenagers in a particular grade, as opposed to those at higher risk for depression (indicated or selective approaches) or a treatment group.

RAP-A is a positively focused program that consists of 11 sessions of approximately 50 minutes duration. The program is run with groups of adolescents varying in size from 8 to 16 students, usually as an integral part of the school curriculum (from grades 7 to 10). RAP-A attempts to integrate both cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal approaches to improve coping skills and build resilience to promote positive development.

KiVa Antibullying Program is a bullying prevention program for schools offering basic education. It provides feasible and ready-made tools for teachers to both prevent bullying from happening and intervene in it. The program has three core components: prevention, intervention, and monitoring. Prevention is targeted at the whole school community. Teachers implement the program by delivering a set of student lessons to target grades (1, 4, and 7). Intervention is carried out by a designated KiVa team that is trained to follow the guided procedure to tackle bullying cases. The prevalence of bullying and victimization is monitored via a yearly student and staff survey which is filled in online. The program offers online learning platforms and video resources in addition to printed materials such as parent’s guide or teacher manuals.

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is a framework for creating systemic change by building a school climate that discourages bullying and addresses it effectively, if it occurs. It is designed for students in grades K-12 and involves all staff, students, parents, and the community in bullying prevention efforts. All students participate in most aspects of the program, while students who bully others and students who are bullied receive additional individualized interventions. The OBPP is a coordinated collection of research-based components that addresses the problem of bullying at four levels: school-wide, classroom, individual, and community. OBPP schools receive training and consultation from certified Olweus Trainer-Consultants prior to implementation. The staff forms a school coordinating committee and receives ongoing consulting support. The program includes resources for engaging with families and community members, including holding educational events about bullying issues, communicating with parents regarding bullying incidents, and classroom meetings.

ParentCorps is designed to be an enhancement to public pre-K programs, specifically those in historically disinvested, low-income neighborhoods. ParentCorps offers three components:

• Professional development for educators and school staff
  
• Parenting Program for families
• Social-emotional learning program for pre-K children

The goal of ParentCorps is to strengthen the family-school connection and emotionally responsive environments at home and at school in support of children’s health and well-being.

Positive Action (PA) is a universal program created for students in school kindergarte–eighth grade that provides an instructor's kit at each grade level. The program aims to motivate students intrinsically to be their best selves by teaching them that they feel good about themselves when they do positive actions. The program teaches the positive actions for the whole self: physical, intellectual social and emotional through six units, which are the same at each grade. This enables the entire school to be learning the same concept around the same time, thus providing the setting for use of the school wide climate development kit(s) to reinforce positive behaviors school wide daily. This reinforcement enables students to experience good feelings about themselves when they do positive actions. For students needing more intense support, there is a counselor's kit. All kits have a manual with scripted lessons, planned activities and colorful, engaging supplementary materials.