Working class and upper-middle class mothers were videotaped interacting with their toddlers in four settings. Samples of the mothers' adult-directed speech were also collected. Observed were social class differences in the mothers' child-directed speech and some parallel differences in the mothers' adult-directed speech. This may reflect more…

Assessed daily hassles of parenting in parents of children aged 9-12, 18-24, and 30-36 months. Reported hassles were significantly greater with increasing child age; mothers and fathers did not differ in amount of hassle perceived. Perceptions of hassles were related to indices of support and social cognition. Parental social support moderated…

This study of 82 hearing-impaired children (ages 6 to 36 months) sought to provide normative data concerning their communication efforts and to document the course of development of these earliest communication efforts. The study found that certain cognitive abilities and strategies are prerequisite to the development of certain language…

Observed and analyzed the play of 60 U.S. and Mexican toddlers and their mothers. Found cultural differences in children's pretend play, the mutual involvement of mothers and children in pretend play, the behaviors mothers used to structure play, and mothers' value of children's play. (MM)

This study of parents of 121 toddlers with disabilities found that fathers reported more stress related to their child's temperament and the father-child relationship, while mothers reported more stress from the personal consequences of parenting. Fathers were more sensitive to effects of the family environment, whereas mothers were more affected…

Administered the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory to 25 bilingual (English/Spanish) and 35 monolingual children who were furnishing data for longitudinal study. Assessment of the degree of overlap between bilingual children's lexical development in their two languages showed that they developed early vocabulary at the same rate as…

Mothers' interventions in object conflicts during play between toddler peers of the same age and sex were examined. Results showed that mothers frequently intervened. Mothers favored the other child in the conflict, except with older sons, and were inconsistent in endorsing rights of ownership or possession. (BC)

Studied parent-staff communication during morning and afternoon transition times in 16 proprietary day care centers. Found that communication varied by center, and communication occurred more between parents and staff of infants and toddlers than parents and staff of preschoolers. Age differences may have been a result of staffs' rather than…

A portrait is presented of the toddler with slow expressive language development (SELD), based on research examining the health history; cognitive, communicative, and adaptive skills; behavior; and phonology of 30 toddlers with SELD and 30 nondisabled toddlers. The paper offers a review of research on the outcomes of SELD, and explores…

This paper analyzes Piagetian theory on the relative development of cognition and language, the local homology model which claims there are specific language-cognition relationships at specific points in time, normal development and local homology, and development in language-impaired children. Implications for clinical decision making are…

Tested a normally developing child several times between 16 and 27 months of age for his ability to derive the relations between stimuli. Found that the child derived "mutual entailment" relations and showed "nonverbal exclusion" as early as 17 months. "Combinatorial entailment" relations and "verbal…

The results from four early intervention evaluation studies are described in relationship to their impact on parent-child interaction. Intervention effects on child development were unlikely to occur unless mothers modified their style of interacting. Only their level of responsiveness was associated with positive developmental outcomes.…

While children aged 1;10 and 2;1 show only a modest rate of mapping novel nouns onto unfamiliar rather than familiar objects, children aged 1;4 and 1;8 show a high rate. Two studies with young 2-year olds found the noun-mapping preference prevalent, but unless initial choices are strongly reinforced, increase in salience of familiar kinds lures…

Describes how parents can instill habits of safety in very young children to help their future teenagers be safe and responsible drivers. Discusses the importance of developing safety habits while automobile and bicycle riding, instilling in toddlers a sense of responsibility through practice, being aware of the power of parental modeling, and…

A survey explored funding strategies used in 16 community-based programs serving infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Results pointed to two general funding sources: pooling or decategorization of public funds, and use of donated/raised funds for use by one or more programs to pay for unmet needs. (Author/CR)