Incredible Years Program

Social- cognitive factors can motivate offenders to commit crimes. Low intelligence, learning disabilities, and poor attitudes make the school experience difficult especially for youth in poor neighborhoods. These children will often gravitate to the wrong crowds, socially withdraw from peers, and have a higher chance of joining a gang. Children with cognitive problems have higher levels of aggression and have a difficult time socializing with peers. They lack confidence and are unable to use their verbal skills to resolve conflicts in challenging social situations. When a young child is unable to verbally communicate with others, they act out when they become frustrated and can become very aggressive. This is similar to how youth with language problems will respond in difficult situations. Luckily there are programs available that focus on helping children with the above mentioned social cognitive problems.

The program I selected to discuss is The Incredible Years Program which “is a comprehensive curriculum for parents, teachers, and children that is designed to promote emotional and social competencies and prevent conduct problems in young children.”(DeLisi, M. (2013). The goals of this program are to prevent delinquency, violence, and drug abuse, provide treatment / prevention of early onset ADHD or conduct problems, and develop a community based and cost effective program. This program targets children ages 2 to 10 who show high risks to aggressive, oppositional and defiant behavior. Group sessions are held that last between 2- 2.5 hours with food, child care and transportation provided to each session. The sessions focus on praise / encouragement, building positive relationships, incentives, social skills, problem solving, proactive strategies and discipline, and emotional