EIRI Research Used in Michigan
Research from Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities will be used to help Michigan’s Department of Community Health better serve toddlers and their families.
The Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) tool was developed by USU researchers Lori Roggman and Mark Innocenti as an easy to use, easy to score aid to professionals who work with one- to three-year-olds and their families. It determines which behaviors to encourage between parents and children.
Now, PICCOLO will be used in a pilot program by Michigan’s Mental Health Services for Children and Families. The checklist is one of three diagnostic tools that will be used in the pilot. PICCOLO was selected for its emphasis on the interactions between parent and child.
The voluntary pilot program will be used in 18 community mental health centers around the state, involving an estimated 170 children and their families. It aims to help families in a variety of situations. For example, a depressed mother may struggle with raising a child, parents may worry about their toddler’s social development or a doctor may be concerned that a young child is missing developmental milestones.
It is impossible to name every scenario that would bring a family to the state’s mental health services, but the need for well-informed parents overarches them all.
“Parents are the provider,” said Mary Ludtke, a consultant in Mental Health Services to Children and Families in Michigan. “They are their child’s support.”
The same philosophy dominates research by Innocenti and Roggman, who have collaborated on several projects that stress putting parents in charge of a child’s development.
The PICCOLO checklist was developed through observations of 4,500 parent-child interactions. The researchers collected and validated data across several cultures in the formulation of the tool, which measures affection, responsiveness, encouragement and teaching. These behaviors foster healthy development and good relationships between parents and children.
Its creators are affiliated with the Early Intervention Research Institute, a program of the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. Innocenti is associate director of the CPD’s Research and Evaluation Divison. Roggman is a professor in USU’s Family, Consumer and Human Development Department.
Contact: Mark Innocenti, 435-797-2006; Lori Roggman, 435-797-1545
Writer: JoLynne Lyon, 435-797-1977
Writer: JoLynne Lyon, 435-797-1977
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