Parenting a young child with behavioral, emotional, or social difficulties can be stressful and challenging. Oftentimes, caregivers are unclear whether their child’s behaviors are “normal” for their age and adopt a “wait and see” approach hoping that the behavior will eventually resolve as their child gets older.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy or PCIT is a therapy for families with children between the ages of 2 and 7 who have trouble listening, are impulsive, hyperactive, or even aggressive and destructive. PCIT uses live coaching by a therapist over a bug-in-the-ear device to help caregivers manage problem behaviors in the moment. PCIT is divided into two phases. The first phase is designed to help children calm down, improve their attention and focus, feel less angry, and help caregivers strengthen their relationships with their child which often gets strained when children misbehave. The second phase helps caregivers to reduce and manage problem behaviors and helps children to accept consistent consequences and limits. On average families are able to complete PCIT in 12-20 sessions; however, PCIT is not time limited.
Over 30 years of research has demonstrated that PCIT is effective at helping improve behavior problems and reduce parenting stress. As a child’s problem behaviors decrease, parenting skills improve, and the quality of a parent-child relationship is enhanced. PCIT can improve behavior in other settings, such as school, day care, and with siblings.
For families that choose to participate in Internet-Delivered PCIT (i-PCIT) it is recommend to have a bluetooth ear piece for parents to utilize during sessions; however, this is not required. In a comparison with traditional PCIT, i-PCIT shows comparable or even more positive outcomes. Parents benefit from learning to use the skills in their homes, rather than an office setting often.
"Improving Your Child's Behavior Through Play"
"Improving Listening in Children"
"Managing Big Emotions in Children"
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.