Support for children

The child group is an emotional awareness and social skills group for children aged 5 - 9 years.

Two experienced CASEA clinicians facilitate the group with a school staff member who has undergone training.

Usually, each group includes 8 children who meet weekly for a 75 minute session for 8 weeks.

Support for parents and other carers

Parents of the children involved in the children's group participate in a parent group that runs for 8 weeks.

The group meets weekly at the school for 2 hours and usually coincides with school drop-off or pick-up. Two CASEA clinicians facilitate the group.

Content is informed by a number of parenting programs including Tuning in to Kids and the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). There is evidence that these programs are effective.

If children and their families would benefit fom ongoing support  after participation in the group programs, we collaborate with the school and families to help facilitate a referral to other supports and/or agencies where needed.

Support for schools

We aims to build the capacity of the whole school community to work effectively with students and their families to support children's social, emotional and behavioural development.

We do this by up-skilling all school staff on social-emotional learning by offering professional learning to the whole school. All school staff participate in sessions related to social, emotional and behavioural development.

We can also provide additional support as needed and requrested such as:

• Consulting with other supports or agencies that a child/family is referred to
• Information evenings for parents
• Consulting with school staff on social and emotional learning

Parent involvement

Identifying suitable families

There is a two-stage process involved in identifying children and families who may benefit and be interested in participating in the CASEA program.

Stage one

The first stage involves parents and teachers of children in the Foundation/Prep to Grade 3 classes at the participating school completing a brief screening questionnaire. The screen looks at children's:

• Attention
• Impulsivity
• Emotion regulation
• Communication skills
• Peer interaction
• Social skills

The measure aims to identify the children who would most benefit from the parent and child group intervention.

Stage two

Once children and families are identified, the school will invite them to meet with a member of the Austin CASEA team.

The meeting is held at the school during school times. Children do not need to attend.

We will provide parents with more information about the program. Parents are given the opportunity to ask questions and then say whether or not they are interested in being considered for the program.

CASEA is a voluntary program and it is up to parents to say if they would like to be involved. Parents who aew interested in being involved will be asked for more detailed information about their family, and their child's social, emotional and behavioural development. They will also be asked to complete a short questionnaire. This meeting usually runs for one hour.

Our team decides on the final eight (8) families who are most suitable for the group interventions. These families are then phoned and offered a written invitation to join the program.

Participation in the program is completely voluntary and families can choose to withdraw at any time. All information provided by families is confidential and therefore not shared with the school without written parental consent.

School involvement

The CASEA support team

Before the commencement of our programs, your school will be asked to form a CASEA support team.  This ideally consists of:

• CASEA contact person (our primary liaison for day-to-day operational issues)
• The school principal;
• The school assistant principal
• Student wellbeing staff member
• Teacher from the Prep to Grade 3 staff

The CASEA support team is involved in planning, implementing and monitoring CASEA programs in your school.  Some of the tasks of the CASEA support team include:

• Decision-making about various approaches for the CASEA program within the school
• Dissemination of CASEA information to staff and school community (for example, at staff meetings or through the newsletter)
• Supporting the screening and intervention data collection
• Consideration of where CASEA fits within school planning and policy

Role of the CASEA contact person

The School CASEA contact person will have a number of specific roles in the school.  These include:

• Communication with the CASEA team regarding day-to-day operational issues (e.g., equipment, changes in school timetable)
• Assisting with the organisation of parent and teacher screening as well as pre and post intervention data
• Assisting with the early engagement of families and inviting parents to initial interviews with the CASEA team
• Securing rooms for family interviews and group programs

Role of the teachers

The Foundation/Prep to Grade 3 teachers will be involved in the CASEA program in a number of ways.  This includes:

• Participation in screening to assist in identification of children who may benefit from the program. This involves the completion of a brief screening questionnaire
• Assistance in collection of parent screens
• If teachers have a student in their class who will be participating in the children's group, they will be asked to complete some brief questionnaires relating to each selected child pre and post groups commencing
• Ongoing consultations will be held with teachers regarding program content, outcomes, recommendations and/or referral on regarding children in the group