This is a psychoeducational program for families with children up to the age of three. The intervention is carried out in the families’ homes so that parents can develop essential skills to help their children’s development.
The program has ten components:
1) Identification of impediments and motivations for parents;
2) Use of step-by-step checklists to identify specific knowledge and parenting skills, strengths, and needs;
3) Use of previous assessment information to develop a complete family support plan to meet their needs;
4) Direct parental behavior training with parents at home to teach parenting skills;
5) Parent education, including step-by-step and behavioral teaching methods, such as task analysis, simple instructions, visual aids, suggestions, modeling, roleplaying, programming for generalization, positive reinforcement, and feedback;
6) An initial focus on what parents are doing well, i.e., positive reinforcement, and the gradual introduction of constructive feedback based on steps missed or incorrectly carried out in the checklists;
7) Working on only one skill at a time so as not to overwhelm the parents;
8) Objectively controlling the acquisition of skills, maintenance and generalization of parenting skills using step-by-step checklists;
9) Monitoring the effects of parental education on the child’s health, development, and behavior; and
10) Progressively reducing home visits and building natural support systems.