This annual report details the July 1, 1997-September 30, 1998 activities of First Steps, a system of early intervention services for Missouri children with disabilities, developmental delays, or special health care needs from birth to age three and their families. First Steps is a cooperative, collaborative, interagency effort of the state…

The present study examined relations between behaviors of mothers and children. The analysis of relations over time suggested that stimulating responsive maternal behavior influenced the child's intellectual development, whereas in the area of social relations the child's behavior influenced the mother. (CS/Author)

To insure the development of normal speech, the multiply handicapped blind infant or child needs oral/vocal sensory stimulation associated with communication experiences. (DB)

From a symposium on Cross-Cultural Studies of Mother-Infant Interaction at the Biennial Meeting for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, Minn., April 2, 1971. (MB)

From a symposium on Cross-Cultural Studies of Mother-Infant Interaction at the Biennial Meeting for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, Minn., April 2, 1971. (MB)

First, what parents do with their young children does influence child intellectual performance; second, we cannot categorize any group of parents; third, many parents are now doing the right thing"; fourth, parent education is a reasonable effort. (Author)

Study has demonstrated that the extent of physical proximity between mother and child has much to say about the quality and extent of the object relationships in the developed organism. (Author)

Qualitatively, the more suppressive and critical the mother, the less responsive the baby was in social play with her. The more the baby responded to his mother, the less he responded to a stranger. (Author)

Encourages use of Head Start and community resources, professionals, and mothers in shaping children's early experiences to maximize educational potential. Stresses need to give mothers information on child development from the prenatal period through the preschool years. (DR)

Indicates that 18- to 20-month-old infants can detect the correspondence between auditorially and visually perceived speech; that is, they manifest some of the components related to lip-reading phenomena in adults. This demonstration of the bimodal perception of speech in infancy has important implications for social, cognitive, and linguistic…

Adolescent mothers (n=45) completed questionnaires measuring perception of the newborn (Neonatal Perception Inventory), knowledge of influences on child development (Infant Caregiving Inventory), and emotional state (General Health Questionnaire); they were also systematically observed while interacting with their infants in a naturalistic…

Reviews 26 instruments developed to assess temperament at the infant, preschool, and school-age levels, giving particular attention to instrument content, standardization samples, reliability, and validity. It is concluded that, at present, no single psychometrically adequate instrument is available. Suggestions are made for future approaches to…

Outlines the difficulties parents face in the first year after childbirth and describes a postpartum intervention program. Obstacles faced by the program due to cultural prohibitions against acknowledging parental ambivalence to a newborn child are also discussed. (Author/DB)