      *  @private
      *  Helper method to set the child index of the given component.
      */ 
-    protected function setComponentChildIndex(component:UIComponent, 
+    mx_internal function setComponentChildIndex(component:UIComponent, 
                                               container:UIComponent, 
                                               index:int):void
     {

     *  @private
     *  Helper method that returns index of the given component. 
     */
    protected function getComponentChildIndex(component:UIComponent, container:UIComponent):int
    {
        if (container is IVisualElementContainer)
            return IVisualElementContainer(container).getElementIndex(component);

     *  Helper method to add a UIComponent instance to either an IVisualElementContainer
     *  or DisplayObjectContainer.
     */ 
    mx_internal function addComponentToContainer(component:UIComponent, 
                                               container:UIComponent):void
    {
        if (container is IVisualElementContainer)
