Kirstie Pye, Research Officer NWORTH Clinical Trials Unit Bangor University.

Evaluating the IY School Readiness programme: Impact on the academic, social and emotional skills coaching behaviour of parents

Kirstie Pye, Research OfficerNWORTH Clinical Trials UnitBangor University

Background and rationale

Growing numbers of children arrive in school without social and self-regulatory skills

A lack of skills can predict low academic achievement and poor relationships

Early intervention in preschool years is an effective way to prepare children for school success

Need for a shorter, universal programme, delivered to parents as children start school

The IY School Readiness Programme

The effectiveness of the programme has never been researched

The IY School Readiness Programme

Universal programme

Parents of preschool children aged 3 - 5 years

Four weekly 2-hour sessions

Discussion, video-clips, role-play, rehearsal of techniques, group problem-solving, homework assignments

AIMS: Improve children’s school readiness Prevent conduct problems & underachievement

Enhance home-school links

The programme – 2 parts

PART 1: Child-directed playStrengthening social, emotional, and cognitive skillsEmotion coaching and problem-solving Encouraging language skills and creativity

PART 2: Interactive readingEncouraging social, emotional, academic and problem solving skillsHaving fun with books and letting the child be the storyteller

Aims of the evaluation

1. Establish a battery of measures to evaluate the IY School Readiness programme

2. Explore the effectiveness of the IY School Readiness programme for parents of 3 - 5 year old children

3. Detect any difficulties or barriers in implementing the programme

Sample and design

Pre-test post-test repeated measures pilot study

Control and intervention groups assigned on a ‘first come first serve’ basis

10 schools in Conwy and Gwynedd

2 trained leaders per school

46 parents (32 intervention 14 control)

Parents with a child aged 3-5 years in the nursery or reception class of a participating school

Home visits to families at baseline, 6 months, 12 months

Measures

Parents• PDHQ (Hutchings, 1996)• PAROT (Pye et al, in

preparation)• ECBI (Eyberg & Robinson, 1978)• Parent SDQ (Goodman, 1997)• PSOC (Johnston & Mash, 1989) • End of programme

questionnaire• Semi-structured interview

Group leaders• Focus group• Group leader evaluation

questionnaire• Time and cost diary

Primary outcome measure

Play And Reading Observation Tool (PAROT)

Direct observation of parent-child interactions at home

15 minutes shared play and 15 minutes interactive reading

Frequency of parent and child verbal behaviours

5 parent composite categories:

Academic coaching, socioemotion coaching, problem-solving coaching, encouragement/praise, reflection/expansion

3 child categories:

Positive response, negative response, spontaneous vocalisation

Baseline characteristics Demographics

Control(n = 14)

Intervention(n = 32)

Mean child age in months (SD)Mean parent age in years (SD)No. boysNo. fathersNo. Welsh speaking No. single parents No. teenage mums

47.21 (1.28)30.50 (5.22)

90421

45.25 (5.38)34.56 (6.74)

131

1767

No significant differences between the two conditions at baseline for any of the demographic characteristics and outcome measures

Results: PAROT academic coaching

Baseline Follow up 10

5

10

15

20

25

20.24

13.81

19.69

22.02

ControlIntervention

p=.008, d=0.89

Results: PAROT socioemotion coaching


1

2

3

4

5

6

2.24

1.79

3.69

5.04

ControlIntervention

p=.013, d=0.87

Results: PAROT encouragement/praise


2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

11.38

9.1410.46

13.38

ControlIntervention

p=.020, d=0.78

Results: PAROT parent non-significant findings


101214161820

ControlIntervention


101214161820

ControlIntervention

PAROT problem-solving coaching PAROT reflection/expansion

Results: PAROT child behaviours


101520253035404550

ControlIntervention


0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

ControlIntervention

PAROT positive response PAROT negative response


1012141618

ControlIntervention

PAROT spontaneous vocalisation

Results: Parent report measures


2

4

6

8

10

12

ControlIntervention


20

40

60

80

100

120

ControlIntervention

SDQ total difficulties ECBI intensity


1012141618

ControlIntervention

PSOC

Longer-term findings (12 months)

Intervention (n=25) and control (n=6) comparisons from baseline to second follow up (12 months)

No significant differences between the intervention and control conditions for any of the parent verbal behaviour categories

No significant differences between the intervention and control conditions for any of the child verbal behaviour categories

No significant differences between the intervention and control conditions for the SDQ, ECBI, or PSoC parent-report measures

Parent and group leader feedback

89% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that the

relationship between themselves and the teachers who ran the

programme had improved after attending the programme

85% of parents reported a positive effect on the relationship

between them and the school.

100% of parents attended at least one session, 53% attended all 4 sessions The overall mean attendance was 3 sessionsParents (n=27), group leaders (n=14 from 7 schools)

All parents said they found the programme supportive and useful

All schools agreed or strongly agreed that the relationship

between the parents and the school had improved since

the programme

Schools were likely (n=1) or very likely (n=5) to run the

programme again in the future

ConclusionThis was the first known evaluation of the IY School Readiness programme

The programme was effective in increasing key verbal parenting behaviours in the contexts of reading and play

Short-term improvements in parent verbal behaviours (academic coaching, socio-emotion coaching and encouragement/praise) were not maintained over 12 months

Strengthening home-school links

Preliminary evidence that providing support to parents through schools can change parent behaviours

Diolch am wrandoThank you for listening

Kirstie Pye, Research Officer NWORTH Clinical Trials Unit Bangor University.

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