This timely resource analyzes home visits as a primary intervention for at-risk families with infants and young children and details innovative programs for home service delivery. Focusing on family violence, mental illness and alcohol and substance abuse as major challenges to child development, the book presents practical strategies for home visitors to address and prevent problems while fostering an improved environment for raising children. Contributors offer a realistic framework for planning, developing, and training an effective home visitation workforce and tailoring interventions to fit individual family dynamics. And the book's international focus provides a variety of perspectives on evidence-based programs that support families raising children in distressed neighborhoods. Among the featured topics: Home visitation as a primary prevention tool for violence. Developmental parenting home visiting to prevent violence. Supporting the paraprofessional home visitor. Engagement and retention in home visiting child abuse prevention programs. Addressing psychosocial risk factors among families in home visiting programs. Home visitation programs in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Home Visitation Programs: Preventing Violence and Promoting Healthy Early Child Development is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students and professionals in child and school psychology, social work, educational policy, family advocacy and public health.

This timely resource analyzes home visits as a primary intervention for at-risk families with infants and young children and details innovative programs for home service delivery. Focusing on family violence, mental illness and alcohol and substance abuse as major challenges to child development, the book presents practical strategies for home visitors to address and prevent problems while fostering an improved environment for raising children. Contributors offer a realistic framework for planning, developing, and training an effective home visitation workforce and tailoring interventions to fit individual family dynamics. And the book's international focus provides a variety of perspectives on evidence-based programs that support families raising children in distressed neighborhoods. Among the featured topics: Home visitation as a primary prevention tool for violence. Developmental parenting home visiting to prevent violence. Supporting the paraprofessional home visitor. Engagement and retention in home visiting child abuse prevention programs. Addressing psychosocial risk factors among families in home visiting programs. Home visitation programs in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Home Visitation Programs: Preventing Violence and Promoting Healthy Early Child Development is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students and professionals in child and school psychology, social work, educational policy, family advocacy and public health.

Where are parents' skills the strongest--and how can they be encouraged to better support young children's cognitive, social, and language development? Home visitors can find out in minutes with PICCOLO(TM), the quick, reliable observational tool designed to assess and monitor the quality of parent-child interactions. Developed for use with parents of children ages 1 to 3, PICCOLO measures 29 developmentally supportive parenting behaviors in 4 critical domains--Affection, Responsiveness, Encouragement, and Teaching. It's the best way to assess which parenting behaviors are working, develop individualized interventions that help parents improve, and track the positive outcomes of your parent support program.

This User's Guide gives readers explicit guidance on using the PICCOLO, including a Frequently Asked Questions section. A discussion about the tool's development and psychometric properties section are also included. The appendix includes a photocopiable Spanish translation of the PICCOLO and the scoring key for the video clips on the PICCOLO DVD.