The early language environment, especially high-quality, contingent parent-child language interactions, is crucial for a child's language development and later academic success. In this secondary analysis study, 89 parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to either the Music Together® (music) or play date (control) classes. Children were 9- to…

The aim of this study is to examine the punishment behaviors used by mothers in the process of teaching behaviors to their children. For this purpose, data were collected from 26 mothers with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 11 using a semi-structured interview form. The collected data were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of…

This study examined patterns of verbal responsiveness in parents of toddlers (M[subscript age] = 20 months) later identified with autism (n = 121), developmental delay (n = 46), or typical development (n = 44) during an hourlong home observation. Parent verbal responsiveness (PVR) was compared using MANOVA across groups and by child expressive…

This mixed-methods research study investigates Pakistani Muslim American immigrant two mother-daughter dyads' styles of social interactions (inclusive of the content of social interactions) during three virtual museum visits designed to contribute to their ethnic identities. Data were collected from (1) qualitative significant anecdotes; (2)…

Communication is an indispensable element for the individual to exist in society. The individual has his first communication experiences in the family. The communication an individual establishes with his or her parents in early childhood shapes his or her entire life. The positive and effective communication process established in the family…

The current study conducted a comparative analysis of the effects of select components of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, labeled praise, behavior descriptions, and reflections on child vocalizations in two children with autism spectrum disorder and accompanying language delays using a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design. The…

Younger siblings of autistic children are at a high likelihood (HL) of autism, language, and/or cognitive delays. Vocal complexity, a continuous measure of the developmental maturity of vocal communication, is facilitated by parent-child interaction and predicts language outcomes. This study examined whether parents' intervention fidelity to…

To best understand foreign language learning, the present study proposes and tests a conceptual model of confidence in speaking English by examining the path effects of three variables. These three variables are parental psychological control, self-esteem, and language class risk taking. Data were collected from 394 Taiwanese undergraduate…

The study adopts a multimodal perspective, looking at adults' use of gestures in variation sets (VS; i.e. sequences of partial self-repetitions occurring in successive utterances of varying form) addressed to Spanish-learning toddlers in adult-child interactions. We seek to address the following question: Do adults make simultaneous use of VS and…

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between maternal, paternal mental state talk and the quality of parenting on preschoolers' executive function (EF) skills. The sample included 120 dyads (father-child & mother-child). The preschooler aged 3.1-5.99 years (M[subscript age] = 4.60, SD = 0.90) were approached at their schools to…

We report two studies that investigated the continuity and stability of maternal mind-mindedness (MM) across different times, contexts, and relationships, and also examined child communicative development in the second year of life. Three main findings emerged. First, the percentages of appropriate mind-related comments (AMRC) decreased between 16…

This study examined long-term mediating effects of the "smalltalk" parenting intervention on children's effortful control at school age (7.5 years; 2016-2018). In 2010-2012, parents (96% female) of toddlers (N = 1201; aged 12-36 months; 52% female) were randomly assigned to either: standard playgroup, "smalltalk" playgroup…

Parent-child back-and-forth conversation is recognized as important for early development. Accordingly, child media use guidelines encourage parents to co-use media, including mobile media, with children. However, information on the types of conversational interactions that occur during co-use of apps, and the best ways for parents to encourage…

Most language use is displaced, referring to past, future, or hypothetical events, posing the challenge of how children learn what words refer to when the referent is not physically available. One possibility is that iconic cues that imagistically evoke properties of absent referents support learning when referents are displaced. In an…

Early adolescents (aged 12-15) were observed during dyadic conflict discussions with their siblings (n = 23) and mothers (n = 32) in their homes. The verbal conflict behaviors and affect of family members were coded continuously. Sequential analyses identified temporal associations between individuals' affect and their own and their partners'…