Ten infants aged 8-12 months were studied to determine whether they would spontaneously imitate the average fundamental frequency or fundamental frequency contour of their speaking partners. Acoustic analyses failed to reveal any tendency by the infants to adjust vocal pitch, amplitude, or duration in home or laboratory settings. (Author/JDD)

Two studies found that (1) women who preferred employment but remained at home reported higher levels of depressive symptomatology than the other women studied; and (2) homemakers who preferred employment held conflicting sets of beliefs about the maternal role, separation from their infants, careers, and employment. (RH)

Describes a program designed to help families care for their medically fragile infants and children in their homes, thus preventing the need for protective services involvement. (PCB)

Discusses the decline in infant mortality rates over the past 20 years among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Describes efforts by the Indian Health Service to work with communities and federal and state agencies to further reduce mortality rates. (PCB)

Available evidence suggests that early language intervention is effective when designed to meet the needs of the individual child. Intervention should begin when risk or predisposing factors so indicate or when significant delays are present. Intervention should respect the child's developmental level in relevant areas and should address…

Studied the relationships between Israeli mothers and fathers and their 38 preterm infants during hospitalization. Mothers engaged in more caregiving, talking, and holding during initial contacts than did fathers. But disparity in maternal and paternal interactions decreased with time. (RJC)

Reports the effects of a hospital-to-home transitional support program for 47 mothers of infants who were treated in an intensive-care unit. Findings indicate positive effects of the program on the sense of competence, perceived control, and responsiveness of mothers who needed the most support. (RJC)

Explored the power of intonation of speech addressed to adults and preverbal infants to convey meaningful information to 80 adult listeners. Listeners used intonation to identify speaker's intent with greater accuracy in infant-directed speech than adult-directed speech. (RJC)

This article describes the Preconceptional Intervention Program, a model used among women in 12 Florida counties who are at high risk for low birth-weight delivery. Preconceptional intervention identifies high risk women, provides educational programs, and provides adequate preconceptional and prenatal medical care. (IAH)

The evaluation of a parent-completed screening system, the Infant Monitoring Questionnaires, found: 86 percent to 91 percent agreement between classifications of infants made using standardized tests and the questionnaires, low under-screening and over-screening rates (0 percent to 11 percent), high inter-observer and test-retest agreement, and…

Reports results of 2 studies concerning mother-infant separation from the maternal perspective. In the first study, 620 mothers responded to questionnaires from which 3 subscales were labeled. In the second study, 36 women were assessed. Results supported the validity of the questionnaire and the construct. (RJC)

Studies 174 mother-infant dyads to determine the relation between 3-month-old infant, mother, and mother-infant interaction behavior and later attachment behavior. Individual infant differences in sociability at 3 months were found to be related to avoidant behavior and A-type attachment. (RJC)

The article reviews the literature on the effectiveness of early stimulation programs to prevent intellectual or social retardation. It summarizes findings and recommends continued use and development of early stimulation as a primary prevention strategy. Also stressed is early identification of preschoolers with potential or apparent…

This "Special Focus" section contains three papers which explore social reciprocity interventions for young children with severe handicaps, by describing ways to help parents read and respond to their infants' behavior, help children respond to their caregivers, and help parents and their children have pleasant experiences within the community.…

The Infant Monitoring Project is designed to identify infants in need of further evaluation, by having parents complete a set of questionnaires about their infant's development at four-six month intervals. Evaluation of the questionnaires has shown that they are low-cost and have substantial agreement with standardized assessments. (Author/JDD)