See how virtual PCIT actually looks!

Here’s a quick demo of how virtual PCIT actually looks! You’ll see the easy set-up, a small glance at PCIT coaching, and a real demonstration.

man and son playing with toy blocks

PCIT has 2 phases of treatment

In the first part of treatment, known as the Child-Directed Interaction (CDI), parents learn specialized play therapy skills to practice with their child every day. These skills are more than just play—they are shown in the research to improve behavior and social skills
After the parent learns the skills in a parents-only session (known as a “teach” session), their therapist watches them play with their child and coaches them through an airpod/blue-tooth device to help them reinforce good behaviors that are already happening and to discourage negative behaviors that may come up
The therapist helps the parents to improve their use of skills until they are able to provide a high-quality therapeutic interaction in only five minutes
The therapist teaches parents how to use their skills from the play session in real life

After parents learn to be very effective play therapists, they move on the Parent-Directed Interaction (PDI) to work on limit-setting.
PDI focuses on teaching children the “big kid skill of listening to their parents.”
During PDI, parents/caregivers learn
- How to give directions so that their child is more likely to listen to them
- How to reinforce “good listening” behavior from the child
- How to use a safe, research-based time-out consequence for refusing to listen
- How to create consistent “House Rules” for safety and help their child follow them
- How to handle problem behaviors in public settings
- How to handle behaviors with siblings
Just like in CDI, therapists have a “teach” session to explain the Parent-Directed Interaction
Then, the therapist helps the parent to implement these discipline techniques with their child while the therapist is present.
Therapists work with families to implement discipline skills as needed throughout the day