Play and Learning Strategies

PALS is a preventive intervention program to strengthen the bond between parent and child, and to stimulate early development.

Through our infant and toddler/preschooler programs, parents learn specific strategies that help them tune in to their young children, respond in a sensitive and contingent manner, and provide effective cognitive and language stimulation.

Based on a longitudinal study of parent-child interactions and decades of reviewed research, PALS utilizes video exemplars to model specific, targeted strategies parents can utilize in their interactions with their infants, toddlers, and pre-school-aged children. Our mission is to help parents support their young children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and language development.

Developed by the Children’s Learning Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, multiple research studies have confirmed the efficacy of PALS to positively impact parents’ interactions with their young children.

PALS is listed in four national What Works Clearinghouses and in the annual yearbook produced by the National Home Visiting Resource Center. If you are a researcher or community partner interested in PALS for your program or study, please contact us!

PALS Coaching

PALS’ strength lies in the parent practice and video review of their behaviors. Parents, with the support of a trained, certified coach and carefully scripted sessions, learn to be their own observer as they take the rare opportunity to step back and review their interactions with their child. When a parent identifies for themselves what is effective, they increase their child’s confidence, abilities, and cooperation. Parents feel empowered, as they more deeply understand the effect their actions have on their child’s development.

In coaching sessions, PALS uses videotaped examples of real parents and children to demonstrate each concept and allows the parent to critique these examples before practicing the new skills with their own child. Guided practice opportunities during each session help parents move from watching and listening, to talking, and finally to doing.

Infographic explaining the PALS Coaching Model with five steps: Watch and Reflect, Discuss, Practice and Record, Review Together, and Include the Family. Each step outlines how parents engage with coaches and family to apply parenting strategies.

PALS Curriculum

Available in English and Spanish, the PALS strategies build on responsive, or serve-and-return, skills that encourage bonding, and impact the child’s development, increasing their social-emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

PALS infant (5-15 months) curriculum consists of 11 sessions and our toddler (18 months-4 years) curriculum consists of 14 sessions. Used in home-visiting programs across the state of Texas and in various other states, PALS can be implemented individually with parents in their homes, remotely, or with a group of parents at a center, and continues to be adapted and used with a variety of populations.

PALS Session Topics

Session topics include:

Attention to babies’ and toddlers’ communication, or signals
Responding appropriately to children’s positive and negative signals
Supporting infants’ and toddlers’ learning by maintaining their interest and attention rather than redirecting or overstimulating
Introducing toys and activities
Stimulating language development through labeling and scaffolding
Encouraging cooperation and responding to misbehavior
Incorporating these strategies and supportive behaviors throughout the day and during routine activities such as mealtimes, dressing, and bathing, as well as at playtime

Parent Testimonial

Proven Results

Studies of PALS have shown significant gains in parent behavior and child outcomes, as compared with families in control groups without PALS. Statistically, when parents use PALS there are significant improvements that enhance their responsive interaction styles, which in turn create notable improvements in children’s development.

Parent Outcomes

Using PALS demonstrates significant positive parent outcomes. For example, when compared to parents who received weekly home visits but not PALS curriculum intervention, our studies found:

71% of parents used richer vocabulary with their children
64% of parents provided richer verbal explanations to their children
68% of parents spent more time maintaining their child’s focus of attention and interest
55% of parents provided more praise to their children
69% of parents showed greater warmth and sensitivity to their children
69% of parents were more contingently responsive to their children (i.e., parent’s response was well matched to the child’s signals)

Child Outcomes

Similarly, children also demonstrated significant gains in key school readiness skills. Again, comparing children whose parents received weekly home visits but not PALS curriculum intervention, our studies found:

64% of children achieved higher cognitive test scores
72% of children achieved higher motor skills scores
64% of children showed greater expressive language skills
59% of children showed larger receptive vocabularies
59% of children initiated conversation with their parents more often
66% of children showed greater cooperation in providing a response to parents’ requests

PALS Spotlights

Substantial research concludes play-based learning, in combination with responsive interactions, is the best way to build academic and executive functioning skills in young children. PALS Spotlights, designed for parents, highlight key concepts from the research-based PALS program in short video segments. Housed in the freely available CIRCLE Activity Collection: Family, the videos show parents how to use PALS strategies throughout the day, during play and daily routines, to interact with their child in responsive, stimulating ways.

PALS Spotlights

PALS Coach Training and Materials

The Children’s Learning Institute provides PALS training for coaches in person over a period of consecutive days or virtually over a series of four separate dates, usually scheduled weekly. To accommodate online learning preferences, our hybrid training model incorporates both participant self-study and interactive group sessions.

The PALS Infant and Toddler/Preschooler Programs, which include the video curriculum files or access to the courses on the CLI Engage platform, PALS manuals, and toy bags of supplementary materials, are available for purchase in conjunction with training and certification provided by Children’s Learning Institute staff. Materials for each program are available in either English or Spanish.

If you would like to receive the PALS training and materials, please contact the CLI Solutions Group.

Partner with Us

The Children’s Learning Institute continues to study the PALS intervention, incorporating its proven strategies to support parents in varied research projects designed to impact young children at home, school, and communities.