These video-assisted parenting programs have been used successfully with millions of parents. STEP programs are probably the most widely used parenting programs in the United States.

Three versions of the program are available and are designed for parents of differently- aged children:

1. Early Childhood STEP - for parents of children under six.

2. STEP: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting - the original program for parents of children six to twelve years of age. There is a Spanish language version of this program: STEP Spanish.

3. STEP/Teen - for parents of children 13-19 years of age.

All versions of the program teach extremely positive approaches to understanding and raising children. The STEP approaches include appreciating that children's behaviors are motivated by a variety of goals, that encouragement for children becoming the best that they can be is extremely important, and that family councils for making decisions for and with children are highly valued.

The authors of these programs include some of the most respected parenting authorities in America, including Drs. Don Dinkmeyer, Sr., Gary D. McKay, Don Dinkmeyer, Jr., Joyce McKay and James S. Dinkmeyer.

The research studies on the effectiveness of the various STEP programs, some of which are available in books written by CICC's founder and director, Dr. Kerby Alvy, (Parent Training Today and Bringing Parenting Education Into the Early Childhood Care and Education System), show that parents are extremely appreciative of what they learn and that their participation in the programs significantly improves their parenting.

Each program version teaches a variety of parenting skills and strategies, like:

• The Goals of Child Misbehavior
• The Courage to be Imperfect
• Effective Listening
• Effective Discipline
• Problem Solving
• Natural and Logical Consequences
• Encouragement

The programs are designed to be taught as classes that meet for seven parenting sessions. One-day seminar versions can also be taught and various segments of the programs can be taught in one-hour parent or lunch-and-learn meetings.

Below are the topics that are covered in each of the seven sessions for each program version.

Early Childhood STEP - For Parents of Children Under Six

• Understanding Young Children
• Understanding Young Children's Behavior
• Building Self-Esteem in the Early Years
• Communicating with Young Children
• Helping Young Children Learn to Cooperate
• Effective Discipline
• Nurturing Emotional and Social Development

STEP: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting - For Parents of Children Six to Twelve Years of Age.

• Understanding Yourself and Your Child
• Understanding Beliefs and Feelings
• Encouraging Your Child and Yourself
• Listening and Talking to Your Child
• Helping Children Learn to Cooperate
• Discipline That Makes Sense
• Choosing Your Approach

STEP/Teen - For Parents of Children 13-19

• Understanding Yourself and Your Teenager
• Changing Your Response to Your Teen
• Communicating Respect and Encouragement
• Encouraging Cooperation and Solving Problems
• Using Consequences to Build Responsibility
• Deciding What To Do - Part I
• Deciding What To Do - Part II

Obtain Instructional Materials

You can bring the various STEP programs to your area by obtaining the complete Instructor's Kit of training manuals and videotapes or DVDs. If you are already a skilled parenting educator or group leader, you will be able to use these instructional materials in learning how to run the program on your own.

Click here to obtain the program kits.

Obtain Parent Handbooks

You can also learn about and use the STEP program skills and strategies by purchasing the handbooks that parents receive when they enroll in a STEP parenting class.

Click here to obtain the parent handbooks for the STEP programs.

The Center for the Improvement of Child Caring has a long history of providing instructor training workshops in the STEP Programs, beginning in the late 1970s when the original STEP program was used as the best example of the Adlerian Approach to parent training. It was taught to school and agency personnel as part of CICC's national model Personnel for Parent Development Project which was supported by research and training grants from the National Institute of Mental Health.

That highly successful project, which was written about in a 1981 article in the Journal of Community Psychology (Alvy, K.T. and Rubin, H.S., Parent Training and the Training of Parent Trainers, 9, 53-66), revealed that the workshops led to a great deal of assistance and help for the parents that the instructors and their schools and agencies served, as well as leading to other benefits for the agencies and for the instructors themselves. The follow-up research showed that instructors who completed the workshops made six types of uses of what they learned. They

1. Ran parenting classes for groups of parents.

2. Trained parents on an individual basis as part of other services they were delivering, such as part of counseling sessions.

3. Delivered community presentations about effective parenting.

4. Trained other staff to use the skills with their child and parent clients.

5. Used the skills themselves in relating to colleagues and employers.

6. Used the skills in relating to their spouses, significant others and their own children.

Thousands of parents, children and other staff were educated and positively impacted by these instructors within 6 months after completing the workshops.

CICC is prepared to customize similar workshops for any school, school district, agency or institution that would like to produce similar benefits for their communities. It can send a professional Trainer-of- Instructors to teach your staff and personnel how best to use one or more of the STEP programs with the populations you serve.

Make a decision about which of the STEP Programs is best for your community and population, or if you would like people trained to deliver different versions.

The workshops vary in length based on how much training is needed for your particular personnel and staff. Multiple days of training are highly recommended. Workshop costs will vary based on the length of the training workshop and the number of instructor kits and parent handbooks that you will need.

To further understand what is involved, and to convey your specific needs and situation, please complete the Bring an Instructor Training Workshop to Your Community Questionnaire by clicking here.

The Center for the Improvement of Child Caring (CICC) was founded in 1974 by Dr. Kerby T. Alvy and has grown to be one of the nation's largest and most productive nonprofit parenting and parenting education organizations. For more information about CICC's many programs, activities, products and services, go to www.ciccparenting.org, or call toll-free (800) 325-2422.

To sign up to receive CICC's free Effective Parenting Newsletter, click here.

The National Effective Parenting Initiative (NEPI), of which CICC is a sponsor and affiliate, is an advocacy and membership organization that we urge you to join. NEPI works to create the conditions in our nation and in our communities that allow for all parents to receive the best possible parenting education and support.

Learn about NEPI's major projects:

Government-Led Effective Parenting Initiative

Uniting Los Angeles for Effective Parenting Project

Become Part of NEPI:

Parent Membership

Professional Membership

Organizational Membership

Sign the Effective Parenting Petition.