Researching The Incredible Years
Therapeutic Dinosaur School
Programme
Funded by
the Big Lottery
Content
• Eleanor Lane
Overview of the project
• Laura Parry
The development of a valid and reliable
observational tool to assess peer interactions
in schools.
The study
A three-year Randomised Controlled trial (RCT)
To evaluate the effectiveness of the therapeutic(small
group) dina programme delivered in school to high-risk
children in key stage one (4 to 7 years)
Participating Primary schools in Gwynedd, Powys
and Holyhead.
Research Team
• Judy Hutchings – Research Director
• Tracey Bywater – Principal Investigators
• Mihela Erjavec (past and present)
• Eleanor Lane - Research Officer
• Laura Parry - PhD Student
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Ceri Evans }
Margiad Williams} - Research Project Support Officers
Karen Jones}
Stephanie Watts}
• Nia Williams - Seconded Teacher
• Gwen Owen - Admin
The IY Therapeutic Small Group Dina
School Programme
• A treatment programme
• Delivered in 2-hour weekly small group
sessions
• 6 children/group
• 18-20 weeks
Aims of the programme
• To strengthen social and emotional
competencies and problem solving skills.
• In order to reduce behaviour problems and
help the child achieve desired academic
outcomes and school success.
Incredible Years Programmes
Rationale for the Study
• The Dinosaur School curriculum was developed by Carolyn
Webster-Stratton as both a therapeutic and a universal
classroom programme
• Many KS1 children in Gwynedd Powys and Holyhead attend
schools that already deliver the Classroom Dina and their
teachers are trained in TCM
• High risk children may need a more targeted intervention in
addition to universal school programmes.
Research phases
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Phase 1
Baseline, follow-up 1, follow-up 2
Target 120
79 participants
9 schools in Gwynedd
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Phase 2
Baseline, follow-up 1
Target 161 (120 + 41)
150 – so far
13 schools across Gwynedd, Powys,
and 1 school Holyhead
The sample – group allocation
High – risk children identified by teachers in KS1 by completing
an SDQ (Strengths and difficulties questionnaires) for each child.
12 children in each school randomly allocated to intervention or
control
Baseline
Programme - 6 intervention children
Follow-up 1
Programme – 6 control children
Data collection
• Parents
• Teachers
• Child
Parent-report measures
• Demographic Questionnaire
• The Parenting Scale (Arnold, O’Leary, Wolff & Acker, 1993)
• Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock,
& Erbaugh, 1961)
• Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (Tennant et
al., 2007)
• Parent Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman,
1997)
• The Bangor Dinosaur School Questionnaire (Hutchings,
2004)
• Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (Eyberg & Ross, 1978;
Eyberg, 1980)
Teacher-report measures
• Teacher Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997)
• Academic attainment
• Teacher Stress Inventory (Boyle, Borg, Falzon,
& Bagiloni, 1995)
• Teacher Demographics Questionnaire
Child measures
• Wally Problem Solving Task (Webster-Stratton
& Reid, 2001)
• School Observations:
o Classroom observation based on the TPOT
(Teacher-pupil observation tool)
o Observation of peer interaction
Importance of observation
• The advantages of collecting data from
different sources
• The advantages of observation
• Classroom observation and peer interaction
Peer Observation
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The Lego Task
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Dina School
– Making friends and learning school rules
– Understanding and detecting feelings
– Problem solving
– Anger management
– How to be friendly
– How to talk with friends
– How to do your best in school
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Change in behaviour relating to peers
– Increase in positive behaviour
– Decrease in negative behaviour
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Valid and Reliable
Diolch
Thank you