This paper reviews available information on the interactional environment, the general developmental consequences, and the specific speech and language problems associated with the maltreatment of children. Results suggest the possibility of language difficulties in neglected children. (DB)

This study examined the social interactions and activities of 15 workers with mental retardation employed in supported competitive employment positions and 15 co-workers. Although the supported employees and co-workers did not differ in the total number of interactions, co-workers interacted more frequently during breaktime whereas supported…

An exploration of the interpretive potential semiotics offers for study and understanding of meaning production in science classrooms is presented. Some very basic concepts of the theory are introduced, followed by analysis of a single science lesson. The organization of the room, the structure of the lesson, and the behavior and interaction of…

This study compared the interactive behavior of 20 cocaine-using mothers and their neonates with a control group of drug-free mothers and newborns. Cocaine-exposed infants were asleep or distressed for significantly longer periods, and cocaine-using mothers spent significantly more time disengaged from, and passively looking at, infants than did…

This case study examines the interactions between a 14-year-old student with severe learning difficulties attending a special school and her nondisabled peers during weekly integrated sessions. It notes the sensitivity, but dominance, of the nondisabled children and the active involvement, though subservient role, of the special school student.…

Examination of the effects of adult antecedent utterances on echolalia in seven male children with autism (ages five and six) during free play found that most immediate echoes followed high constraint utterances and were used as responsives, organizational devices, and cognitives. Most delayed echoes followed low constraint utterances and were…

This study investigated the effects of a peer-mediated intervention on the social interaction of five triads composed of preschoolers with autism and typical peers. Improved rates of social interaction during play were clearly associated with the peer intervention for four of the five children with autism. (Author/DB)

This study of the pragmatic characteristics of conversations between mothers and their 30 preschool children with developmental delays found significant differences between naturally occurring and researcher-introduced semistructured situations in the proportions of conversational turns taken and the pragmatic functions of mothers' and children's…

Analysis of videotapes of 24 individuals with autism and 24 nonautistic persons with mental retardation found that subjects with autism were less likely to offer spontaneous verbal and nonverbal gestures of greeting and farewell and were less likely to establish eye contact when they were greeted. Results suggest a relative lack of intersubjective…

Discusses situative perspective as a framework for integrating issues of theoretical assumptions, educational practices, and educational research. In this perspective, the focus of theoretical principles is at the level of interaction among people and between people and their environments. Contains three pages of references. (MMU)

Parents actively learned skills in sensitive responding to infant cues in an 8-week training group for parents of infants with developmental delay. Comparison of 12 participants and 5 controls on self-report pre-test/post-test measures indicated the intervention resulted in decreases in dysfunctional parent-child interactions, parental distress,…

Both deaf and hearing mothers (N=23) were observed in videotaped face-to-face interactions with their infants (also either deaf or hearing) and maternal touching behavior was coded for intensity, location, and type. Deaf mothers were especially responsive to tactile needs of their deaf infants. However, hearing mothers of deaf infants also…

The amount and intelligibility of spoken language output were evaluated in 15 deaf children (ages 4 to 9 years) during 15 minutes of free play with either their mothers or a hearing peer. Results indicated that significantly more speech was produced during the children's interactions with their mothers. (Author/DB)

Five subtypes of directiveness were examined in the interactions of day care teachers with toddler and preschooler groups. Results confirmed that instructional context is an important mediator of teachers' directiveness and suggest that subtypes of directiveness have different effects on child language output. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

According to Russell et al. ("Developmental Rev" 1998; 18: 313) child-parent interaction could contain horizontal qualities, similar to child-peer interactions. To study this, child-parent and child-peer play interactions were compared on several observed horizontal and vertical characteristics in 55 7-year-old children interacting with their…