Held on Tuesdays from 10:00 AM-11:30 AM at our office:
To register, email or call Holly.
“PIWI” (“Parents Interacting with Infants”) is an early intervention model based on the premise that early development occurs within the context of the family and primary attachment relationships; consequently, the most important environment for early learning and development is the parent-child relationship. The PIWI model was developed in the mid-1980s by interdisciplinary faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with the intent of more adequately preparing students for their future roles in the newly emerging field of birth to three early intervention. Initially, the PIWI model was used as a framework for the development of a unique birth-to-three practicum experience in which parents and young children (with and without disabilities) participated in weekly playgroups. During the past 20 years, support for this PIWI-based playgroup practicum has been provided by federal personnel preparation grants as part of an early childhood special education master’s degree program, as well as federal grants to develop training materials for faculty and to evaluate the application of the model to applied settings. PIWI has been used as a model for using parent-child playgroups and related home visits across a wide variety of programs serving an array of families.
