PICCOLO 29 things.pdf

29 THINGS PARENTS DO

THAT PREDICT SCHOOL READINESS

Below are 29 things parents do with their young children, ages 10-47 months, that predict one or more of the following outcomes when children are old enough to start kindergarten: Cognitive skills (problem solving, reasoning, science, and math readiness) Vocabulary (word knowledge, language ability) Literacy skills (recognizing letters, linking speech sounds to letters, recognizing text) Social skills (emotion regulation, low rates of aggression) Our research, on over 4,000 observations of almost 2,000 families, shows that very few parents do all of these things, but all parents do some of these things. And the more parents do these things, the better their children do on school readiness assessments. PICCOLO™ is an observational measure of these behaviors.

  1. Speak warmly
  2. Smile at child
  3. Praise child
  4. Stay physically close to child
  5. Say positive things to child
  6. Interact in positive ways with child
  7. Show emotional warmth
  8. Pay attention to what child is doing
  9. Change activities to meet child’s interests or needs
  10. Be flexible when child changes interests
  11. Follow what child is trying to do
  12. Respond to child’s emotions
  13. Look at child when child talks or makes sounds
  14. Reply to child’s words or sounds
  15. Wait for child’s response after making a suggestion
  16. Encourage child to do things with toys
  17. Support child’s choices
  18. Help child do things on his or her own
  19. Verbally encourage child’s efforts
  20. Offer suggestions to help child
  21. Show enthusiasm about what child does
  22. Explain reasons for something to child
  23. Suggest activities to build on what child is doing
  24. Repeat or expand child’s words or sounds
  25. Label objects or actions for child
  26. Engage in pretend play with child
  27. Do activities in a sequence of steps
  28. Talk about characteristics of objects
  29. Ask child for information

Text adapted by permission from Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO™) Tool by Lori A. Roggman, Gina A. Cook, Mark S. Innocenti, and Vonda Jump Norman, with Katie Christiansen. Copyright © 2013 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.