Cognitive-Behavioral Restructuring Classes employ a wide range of education techniques, such as cooperative learning during this four-way tug-of-war, to illustrate lessons such as “How Our Behavior Affects Others.”

Daily, 90-minute tutoring sessions do more than improve grades and test scores – they also boost student confidence.  The result? 

Motivated, engaged learners who behave better in school.

AYD’s Judo Program helps students connect the dots between what they learn in the self-control classes and how it’s applied on the mat – and in everyday life.

Self Control Program

A rapidly growing body of research demonstrates that high self-control has the greatest impact on school performance, higher social competence, a more realistic and improved sense of self-esteem and reduced juvenile delinquency.  In fact, it has twice the reliability of high IQ in predicting student performance across several variables.  Moreover, these studies indicate that self-control is observable, quantifiable, and can be deliberately increased through systematic teaching, modeling, practice and reinforcement.

Allegheny Youth Development launched its Self-Control Project in January 2008, combining cognitive and behavioral skills training with practical application and reinforcement, all in the framework of an after-school and evening tutoring and recreation program for highly at-risk adolescent boys.  Over the 2008–2009 school year, the project recorded strong improvements in participants’ school performance, behavior and attendance as measured by their report cards.  In January 2009, Pittsburgh Rooney 6-8 middle school requested the project for full implementation in their building.  In September 2009, AYD entered a collaborative partnership with cognitive-behavioral consultant David O. Saénz, Ph.D., Ed.M., LLC, to increase the rigorousness of the project’s coursework, add a school-wide behavioral management and intervention component, and to train and mentor AYD and school staff.

AYD’s Self-Control Project is a community-focused holistic approach to improving academic, community and home life:

• Cognitive-behavioral restructuring classes use a research-based curriculum developed by AYD to teach specific problem-solving, self-regulation and self-mastery skills in a high-energy, systematic and fun group setting.
• School-wide behavior management, organizational development and management consulting, using evidenced-based Positive Behavioral Support practices, form an integrated system for correcting disruptive conduct and promoting pro-social and positive habits.
• Academic tutoring, in addition to improving grades and school performance, engages students in active learning, leading to better classroom focus, on-task behavior and higher motivation for learning.
• Parent Effectiveness Coaching (PEC) replicates and reinforces the Self-Control Project’s strategies and interventions for use in the home.  PEC focuses on coaching parents on problem solving, conflict resolution, stress and anger management, impulse control, setting house rules and boundaries, and being consistent.
• Practical application of self-regulatory skills is taught and reinforced throughout AYD’s athletic, recreational and Christian education classes, even during the hot supper program and in the vans on the way home.  For example, AYD’s popular Judo Program teaches this traditional sport in a course heavily infused with lessons in cooperation, sportsmanship, social skills, anger management and impulse control while fostering a life-long interest in emotional and physical wellness.