Strategy

INSIGHTS

What is it?

INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament is a school-based intervention program for at-risk elementary school students. The purpose of the program is to teach children strategies for regulating emotions, attention, and behavior in challenging situations. Parents, teachers, and clinicians are taught to recognize children’s expressions of temperament and use behavior-management strategies specific to the child’s temperament to improve their relationships with children and reduce child behavior problems. The teacher and parent sessions are conducted in 10 sessions and involve role-playing exercises, discussions, assignments, and videos. The children’s sessions involve videos of puppets acting out a range of common problems that children may face daily.  

What is the evidence base?

Children that participate in INSIGHTS demonstrate fewer behavioral problems, improvements in reading and math achievement, and increase their engagement and attention at school. Parents show enhanced parenting skills and teachers show an increase in emotional support for their students. 

• McClowry, Snow, and Tamis-LeMonda_2005_ An Evaluation of the Effects of “INSIGHTS” on the Behavior of Inner City Primary School Children
• O’Connor et al_2014_An Examination of the Efficacy of INSIGHTS in Enhancing the Academic and Behavioral Development of Children in Early Grades