This study compared three models of adult prompting to promote communication acts of three toddlers. The responsive interaction model avoids the use of explicit prompts, whereas the milieu and didactic approaches encourage explicit prompts. Higher rates of intentional communication were found for the explicit prompt condition, although the minimal…

This observational study examined 60 mothers' comments during play with their 4- to 8-month-old infants who had been either full-term, preterm well, or preterm sick. Mothers of sick preterm babies engaged in the most overall talking, mothers of full-term babies made the most negative remarks, and mothers of healthy preterm babies made the fewest…

In this study of maternal interpretations of infant behaviors, seven mothers of infants with Down syndrome identified 18 of 22 subcategories of potentially meaningful infant behavior previously identified by mothers of typically developing infants. These seven mothers also identified an additional category: developmental status-abilities.…

This article addresses the critical role of caregiver interaction styles in the language development and treatment of infants/children with developmental disabilities. An approach to measuring and guiding adult interactive styles is proposed and related to research in parent-child development and intervention. The approach examines five…