Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices

OVERVIEW

The Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices program was developed in response to earlier research on resiliency factors for at-risk children. The program aims to enhance the resiliency of impoverished or at-risk children ages 3-8 by reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors. Lessons in the program are approximately 15-20 minutes long and are taught twice weekly for a total of 23 weeks. 37 elementary school classrooms were randomly assigned in a study during the 1996-1997 school year. The study found that children in the intervention group had better developed social-emotional competence and coping skills than a control group. Likewise, children in the intervention also exhibited fewer problem behaviors in the classroom.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Impoverished or at-risk students in preschool or early elementary school

Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices is an early intervention program which aims to develop resiliency in at-risk students. This is a research-based intervention with a classroom curriculum and companion parent education materials. The curriculum was developed by an inter-disciplinary team of experts. The program’s two main goals are to develop the child’s social-emotional competence and decrease the risk factor of early aggressive behavior. Classroom sessions in the program are interactive in nature and include puppet-led discussion, brainstorming, role-play, guided creative play, music, reading, art, and movement activities. Sessions are short (15-20 minutes) and are taught twice weekly for 23 weeks. Teachers in the program also receive 2 days of training sessions, prior to teaching the program, which focus on risk and protective factors, prevention principles, and teaching to foster resilience. Parents also receive 14 letters which explain what their child is learning in the program and how to reinforce what the child is learning in the home environment.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Lynch, K. B., Geller, S. R., & Schmidt, M. G. (2004). Multi-year evaluation of the effectiveness of a resilience-based prevention program for young children. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 24(3), 335-353.

Evaluated population: 37 elementary school classrooms from Lansing, Michigan. 399 students, ages 3 to 8 years, participated in the study. The sample was approximately 50% Caucasian, 25% African-American, and 25% children of another ethnicity including Hispanic and bi-racial.

Approach: The 37 classrooms were selected and deemed comparable by the local Head Start program director. Of the 37 original classrooms, 33 provided full data for the study. These classrooms were randomly assigned to either the intervention condition (N=17 classrooms, 218 students) or the control group (N=16 classrooms, 181 students). Students ranged in age from 3 to 8 years with a mean of 4 years and 4.3 months (52.3 months) for the intervention condition and 4 years and 4 months (52.0 months) for the control group. Students assigned to intervention classrooms received in-class interactive lessons twice weekly for a total of 23 weeks. These lessons lasted approximately 15-20 minutes each and focused on prosocial behavior, making safe and healthy choices, and social-emotional competence. Teachers assigned to the treatment classrooms also received two days of instructive training on risk and protective factors, prevention principles, and effective teaching to help develop resilience in children. Tools to monitor implementation fidelity were developed. Researchers collected data on pre-test measures in the fall and post-test measures in the spring on teacher reported behavior ratings and coping skills of the students.

Results: Classrooms of children in the intervention group received higher scores of teacher-rated child behavior (M=3.96) on the Child Behavior Rating Scale-30 (CBRS-30) than children in the control group (M=3.55), indicating that they had developed greater social-emotional competence. Classrooms in the intervention group received lower teacher-reported problem behavior scores on the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS) for behaviors including self-centered/explosiveness, paying attention, antisocial/aggressive, social withdrawal, and anxiety when compared with the control group. The intervention had small impacts on measures of positive coping and “distract/avoid” methods of coping. No impacts of the intervention were found for negative coping behaviors (venting and aggression), cooperation skills, or interaction skills.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Link to program curriculum: http://www.wingspanworks.com/educational_programs/

References

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 3-8 / Program age ranges in the Guide: early childhood, mid-childhood

Program components: early childhood education; school-based

Measured outcomes: social and emotional health and development; behavioral problems

Program information last updated 3/14/07