Early Childhood Behavior Health (ECBH)
Tears and tantrums can mean unhappy children and unhappy parents.
Youth Eastside Services’ Early Childhood Behavioral Health (ECBH) Program uses two new evidence-based parent education curriculums to help parents build healthy and positive relationships with their infant or toddler. It offers parents the opportunity to build and support social and emotional skills in themselves and their young child that lay the foundation for a healthy and successful life.
We use two leading intervention models — Promoting First Relationships (PFR) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) — that research has shown to be effective in helping parents understand and regulate their child’s behavior, build a strong and stable relationship with their child, and ensure that their child is meeting key developmental milestones.
Do you know someone that could use these services? Or would you like to share the information with your community groups? Download and print our flyer today!
Promoting First Relationships (PFR)
Ages birth to 5 years
What is Promoting First Relationships (PFR)?
PFR is an evidence-based curriculum that helps parents understand their child’s social and emotional needs and nurture their child’s social and emotional development. PFR supports parents to experience joy and confidence in their relationships with their young children.
What are the goals of PFR?
- Promote children’s social-emotional development through responsive, nurturing caregiver-child relationships.
- Develop positive parenting strategies and secure, healthy relationships.
- Build understanding of the social-emotional needs of young children, and how parents can meet those needs
What happens during the home visits?
Through a series of home visits and videotaped parent-child interactions, each visit focuses on building and supporting the social and emotional health of both the parents and the child. Parents receive positive feedback and are able to reflect on their child’s behavior and the feelings and needs behind the behavior. PFR uses handouts to share and discuss information about your child’s social and emotional well-being.
How long is the program?
PFR consists of 10-16 weekly home visits which are 1–1.5 hours in length.
Learn more by visiting pfrprogram.org to read about the research and successes behind PFR.
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Ages 2-7 years
What is PCIT?
PCIT is an evidence-based behavioral health therapy for families with children who struggle with behavioral/emotional issues or conflicts with their parents. PCIT is different than traditional psychotherapy or a parent education class because it employs a live-coaching model: the therapist observes the parent and child interact from an observation room, and communicates with the parent through an earpiece to coach them on specific skills.
What are the goals of PCIT?
- Build positive parent-child interactions.
- Increase communication and interaction skills within the family.
- Help children learn how to better regulate emotions.
- Enhance the parent-child relationship by improving and strengthening the attachment.
- Teach parents how to provide direct, easy-to-understand instructions to the child that have clear,
consistent consequences. - Address parents’ concerns regarding their child’s behavior.
How long is the program?
The program generally lasts 3–4 months with weekly attendance and completion of homework. On-site sessions are 1–1.5 hours.
What are the stages of PCIT treatment?
- Assessment, orientation and teaching (2–3 sessions)
- Child-directed interactions, coaching (CDI) (1–5 sessions)
- Parent-directed interactions, coaching (PDI) (1–7 sessions)
- Graduation (assess CDI and PDI mastery)
Learn more by visiting pcit.org to read about the research and successes behind PCIT.