Validity of the PICCOLO Tool in Child Care Settings: Can it Assess Caregiver Interaction Behaviors?

Abstract

Childcare quality has been investigated widely over the past 30 years, as increasingly more evidence has emerged that shows that children's developmental outcomes are influenced by the quality of care that they receive in group-care settings. The current emphasis on quality-improvement ratings in childcare provides a unique measurement challenge to ensure accountability for the care of our young children, with a noticeable lack of attention to caregiver interactions with children. The purpose of the current study is to investigate an easy-to-use measure that might address this oversight. The Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) tool has been shown to be reliable and valid for use with parents and was used in the current study to determine whether the PICCOLO, when used to observe caregiver-child interactions in group-care settings, is correlated with other common measures of childcare quality, including the family of Environment Rating Scales ).and the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scales (J. Arnett, 1989). Two hundred seven providers were observed for a mean of 2.87 hr (172 min). Results indicate that the PICCOLO is a valid tool to measure caregiver interaction with children in a childcare situation.

Striking a Positive Note with the PICCOLO

“…This collection of articles will long be a resource for those who want to use the PICCOLO. Taken as a whole, the collection of articles confirms that the measure is valid and reliable for use with parents of children ages 1 through 3 years; with mothers (Roggman et al., ), fathers (Anderson et al., ), and nonparental caregivers (Jump Norman & Christiansen, ); and with heterogeneous populations including African Americans, European Americans, and Latino Americans (Roggman et al., ), children with and without disabilities (Innocenti, Roggman, & Cook, ). In addition, there is evidence that with minimal adaptation, the measure can be used internationally as demonstrated in a Turkish sample (Bayoğlu, Unal, Elibol, Darabulut, & Innocenti, ).…”

“…Jump Norman and Christiansen () offer a wonderful illustration of how the PICCOLO can be used by center‐based programs. Not only can they use it to assess parent–child interactions but also interactions between children and their nonparental caregivers.…”

Characteristics of staff–child interaction in 1–3-year-olds’ risky play in early childhood education and care

“…In this vein, there are several instruments assessing process quality from the child's perspective, e.g. the Observational Record of the Care Giving Environment (ORCE/M-ORCE) (Kryzer, Kovan, Phillips, Domagall, & Gunnar, 2007;NICHD, 1996), the Caregiver Interaction Profile (CIP) (Helmerhorst et al, 2014), the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) (Jamison, Cabell, LoCasale-Crouch, Hamre, & Pianta, 2014;La Paro, Hamre, & Pianta, 2009), or the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) (Norman & Christiansen, 2013). Such instruments have shown strong associations between scores on the respective instruments and children's well-being and development (La Paro, Williamson, & Hatfield, 2014;NICHD, 2001).…”

“…In this line, Dalli et al (2011) suggest intersubjectivity as the core pedagogical strategy in ECEC for infant/toddlers and is closely linked to descriptions such as warmth, sensitivity, and responsiveness. These terms operationalize how intersubjectivity is made possible and is presented as optimal behaviour in detail in standardized tools (see for example Helmerhorst et al, 2014;Norman & Christiansen, 2013). Consequently, intersubjectivity can be seen as a prerequisite for successful scaffolding.…”

Observing Toddlers’ Individual Experiences in Classrooms: Initial Use of the Parenting Interactions With Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes

“…Although this literature is based on parent–child interaction research, these same behaviors are critical to high‐quality childcare for infants and toddlers (ZERO TO THREE, ). Recently, the PICCOLO measure has been used in preschool classrooms to observe teacher–child interactions (Norman & Christiansen, ). Although interrater reliability was not calculated during this study, absolute agreement during the development phase ranged from .69 (teaching domain) to .80 (affect domain).…”