Griffith University FREE Parent Workshops

Does your kindy aged child have bedtime or sleep difficulties? Check out these free workshops for parents of children who begin prep next year.

Parents can email preschoolsleep@griffith.edu.au, find them on Facebook at fb.me/lightsoutsleep or call the central office on (07) 3735 3305 to register their interest in the program.

Some information below;

Sleep problems in preschool children are fairly common and they can be very disruptive not only to the child, but also to parents and families as well. We know that early childhood sleep problems are often unlikely to go away without treatment, but the good news is, they can be treated effectively! In fact, treating sleep problems early in the preschool years can prevent several associated problems from occurring later in life. That is why our team, a group of early childhood specialists, including clinical psychologists, university professors, international researchers, educators and pare

nts have designed the Lights Out Program!

The Lights Out Program is a series of FREE, small group workshops for parents of children in the year before they begin Prep, who are experiencing moderate to severe sleep and/or bedtime problems. The program is delivered across 6 weeks, which includes 5 x 1.5 hour weekly workshops and a personalised, one-on-one phone call check in.

These workshops are delivered at psychology clinics at Griffith University Mount Gravatt and Gold Coast in terms 3 and 4 and this is the 2nd year we have been able to offer it to parents completely free, thanks to Rotary Health. What keeps the program free is that it is part of a research trial. This means that after assessing eligibility, parents are randomly assigned to a start now (when next available) or start later (after term 2 next year) group. Parents are al

so asked to complete 4 surveys (2 this year and 2 next year) and let us get in touch with their Prep teacher next year to see how they are going. The great news it that we can provide parents with a $20 voucher from taking the time to complete surveys at timepoints 2, 3 and 4 ($20 voucher each timepoint).

The workshops provide parents with a range of strategies to help deal with different bedtime problems that this age group experience. We first focus on what may be driving that sleep problem by seeing if the problem is biological, behavioural or fear based, we then teach parents how to tackle these problems. Our program covers behaviours such as nighttime fear or anxiety, difficulty falling asleep and maintaining sleep, requiring parental presence, unwanted co-sleeping, refusal to take part in the bedtime routine, night time tantrum throwing and leaving the bedroom to name a few. Parents can email us at preschoolsleep@griffith.edu.au, find us on Facebook at fb.me/lightsoutsleep or call our central office on (07) 3735 3305 to register their interest in the program.