Years of research have shown the effectiveness of PCIT in helping parents learn new ways to eliminate destructive behaviors in young children such as physical aggression, swearing, defiance, and disrespect to adults.

PCIT was developed by Dr. Cheryl McNeil and brought to California by UC Davis in 1996. Yolo Family Service Agency (YFSA) clinicians were directly trained by UC, Davis and continue to provide PCIT to families with its original intention.

How it works: PCIT provides direct coaching to the parent by the clinician. The therapist tells the parent what to say and gives encouragement and praise when the parent is able to relate positively to the child. The clinician watches the family interact and listens to what is said. In YFSA’s Woodland office this is conducted through a one way mirror and a listening device. YFSA is able to provide PCIT in the home or in school settings with permission from those involved.

In its simplicity, the parent sits with the child at the table playing with a set of blocks. The child stacks one block on top of the other. The parent is instructed to give direct specific praise with enthusiasm for the positive behavior, “Good job putting the blue block on top of the red block!” With this, the child is given attention for positive behavior, feels good about him/herself for the positive behavior, is learning colors, practicing their motor skills, and having a good time with mom or dad! Add video here.

These skills are taught in the first part of PCIT. When the relationship has improved and the child and parent have mastered the skills taught by the therapist, the family moves on to the second phase of PCIT where discipline is introduced for negative behaviors. The completed program takes about 20 weekly sessions. Practicing at home and attending weekly sessions are a must in order for the child to be a success. PCIT is only for parents and children who regularly have contact with each other at least 3-4 times per week.

PCIT is offered at Yolo Family Service Agency in a family setting with well trained clinicians who enjoy working with children and parents. The clinicians offer support to you in a non-judgmental way that allows success to occur. Even though not every family can be guaranteed success, some changes will occur. You will learn new ways of handling your child in difficult situations. Your child will do better at home and in other settings after PCIT is completed. And you may notice changes in your child and in your relationship with the PCIT skills practice.

YFSA clinicians are not only trained in PCIT, but are also willing to advocate for you and your family and refer you to other beneficial resources as needed. YFSA provides other adjunct resources that you can inquire about by visiting the Home Page of YFSA’s website. To learn more about PCIT training and details of the program visit the Clinician Link.

*Clinician Link or whatever you want to call it. You can mix and match these two entries also. I thought this info. was more technical than what a client may want to know.

The PCIT program seeks to halt violence in families that has been on a sharp up rise in this country. One of the common characteristics to violence in families is a negative way of relating to each other. PCIT is a proven technique that has been able to reduce the risk of child abuse, and provides skills that parents can transfer to other situation and settings. Longitudinal studies indicate that the improvement gained during PCIT continues to grow over time and has positive impacts on other children in the home.

PCIT is conducted in a specialized room of a therapeutic clinic equipped with a one way mirror, video recording, and a listening device used for directly communicating with the parent. Yolo Family Service Agency has such a room in their Woodland office. Parents learn how a child’s behavior is shaped and maintained by their social environment and how methods of behavioral change learned throughout PCIT can be applied to new problems as they arise. In helping children with serious behavioral problems at a young age, paves the road to future successes at home, school, and on the playground of life. PCIT improves the quality of the parent child relationship, decreases problem behaviors while increasing positive behaviors, increases parenting skills and positive discipline, and thereby decreases parent stress.

Treatment generally lasts 12 to 20 weeks. This is based on the parent being able to consistently show mastery of the PCIT skills. Generally, one half of the sessions are devoted to relationship enhancement skills and the other one half to positive discipline and compliance skills. Homework, which consists of the parent playing with the child using the PCIT skills, is necessary to reach mastery and is usually practiced in the home for 5 to 10 minutes a day. After graduation, parents may return to YFSA for booster sessions if needed.

In the first half of the PCIT sessions, the parent learns what has been coined as the PRIDE skills: Praise, Reflection, Imitation, Description, and Enthusiasm. The parent is coached by the clinician using the hearing device until the criteria for mastery has been reached consistently. YFSA uses the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System to measure skill mastery. If the child displays any negative behavior during the first phase, the parent is taught to successfully ignore the behavior during this phase. This ensures the focus remains on relationship enhancement and positive behavior. When the child feels close and connected to the parent, they are more likely to behave and want positive attention. This close connection aids in the success of the second half of the PCIT program.

In the second half of the PCIT sessions, the parent learns to use an effective time out. This is practiced in the session by manipulating the child to break one of the rules of PCIT. The rules consist of the child sitting in the chair and playing nicely with the toys.

By allowing a time out situation to occur in the therapy, this gives the parent a chance to practice an effective time out with the clinician coaching and supporting them.

YFSA uses the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory to measure a reduction of negative child behaviors in the home. The Eyberg Inventory is given to the parent at the onset of PCIT and at the family’s graduation. Weekly, the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System is implemented by the clinician to measure the progress of the parent in learning the PRIDE skills.

YFSA keeps in close contact and receives consultation from UC, Davis in the implementation of our PCIT program. YFSA clinicians are closely trained using the Training of Trainers format designed by UC, Davis. This ensures PCIT integrity for all of our clinicians and their clients.

In order to be trained in PCIT, YFSA requests that the clinician have a Masters degree in psychology or a related field, such as social work. The clinician has a commitment to work at YFSA for at least one year after the PCIT training is completed. The training involves four full days of instruction and learning the PCIT skills themselves. Then the clinician is closely supervised and coached by the PCIT trainer with two families from the onset of PCIT program to graduation. At that time, the clinician is ready to implement PCIT with other clients. YFSA provides ongoing PCIT skills training and consultation for YFSA clinicians.