Comparison of communication between hearing mothers and their deaf or hearing children (n=80) at child-ages 22 months and 3 years found most of the differences in communication by mothers of deaf and hearing children seemed attributable to the deaf children's linguistic delays. Results suggest that intervention efforts should focus on fostering…

Relationships between pretend play and word production were investigated in 10 hearing toddlers and 10 toddlers with hearing loss who attended an auditory/oral early intervention program. Results showed significantly higher levels of pretend play for the hearing children and an association between level of pretend play and word production for the…

The internal reliability and concurrent validity of the Play Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) was compared to that of the Minnesota Child Development Inventory with 170 deaf or hard of hearing infants and toddlers. The PAQ was found to be a useful nonverbal tool that assesses symbolic play behaviors and demonstrates a parallel development with…

Prelinguistic children (N=58) with developmental delay received one of two staff-implemented treatments designed to increase intentional communication ability. Results confirmed the prediction that treatment effects on children's receptive and expressive language 6 and 12 months after intervention would vary as a function of pretreatment maternal…

Hearing sensitivity was examined prospectively in 114 young children as a function of otitis media with effusion (OEM)status in years 1, 2, and 3. Results indicated that children classified as bilaterally OME positive in years 1, 2, and 3 had significantly poorer hearing than children classified as bilaterally OME free at these periods. (Contains…

A concept of seductive mother-toddler relationships was initially validated. Subsequent research showed "seductiveness" was stable, though transformed, from 24 to 42 months; the same mothers were not found to be seductive with male or female siblings; mothers seductive with boys were derisively hostile toward daughters. (Author/RH)

Examines speech samples from six children aged 2 years to 2 years, 5 months, with Mean Lengths of Utterance ranging from 2.93 to 4.14, were examined for evidence of six syntactic categories: determiner, adjective, noun, noun phrase, preposition, and prepositional phrase. (HOD)

A total of 36 American and African mothers and their children in three age cohorts from 6 to 36 months of age interacted around age-appropriate teaching tasks. Major behavioral differences between cultural groups and tasks were demonstrated. (Author/RH)

That a mother's affective illness may interfere with her ability to relate to her child in ways that promote a secure attachment is documented in these data. Depression decreased the likelihood of secure attachment between mother and child. Children of unipolar and bipolar depressed mothers had different patterns of attachment. (RH)

Three studies with approximately 600 children were conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the three measures of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile. Findings support the use of the profile as a screening and evaluation tool for identifying children with developmental delays at 12 to 24 months of age.…

A group of 76 male and female toddlers identified drawings depicting boys and girls alone or with sex-typical or sex-atypical toys by responding "girl" or "boy,""girls' toy" or "boys' toy." The youngest girls outperformed the youngest boys in identifying toys. Otherwise, responses in general improved with…

The empirical support for three theoretical approaches to infant intervention is reviewed, including direct intervention via nonsocial means, direct intervention via social means, and indirect infant intervention via social support to the family. For each approach, underlying theoretical assumptions are identified, and for each assumption,…

Affective expressions of 11 toddlers with Down's syndrome and 11 toddlers with no disabilities were compared during participation with a parent in a social referencing procedure. Although expressions of both toddler groups were equally labile and intense, only toddlers without Down's syndrome tended to match their parents' expressions. (Author/DB)

The signed and spoken language produced by 14 mothers (7 deaf and 7 hearing) to their 18-month-old deaf children was analyzed. Deaf mothers were more successful in presenting signed utterances with a salient context visible to their children. For both groups, visible and salient signed utterances were positively correlated with mothers' success in…

Language and reading outcomes at 6 to 9 years of age were examined in 34 children who were late talkers as toddlers. Late talkers performed in the average range on most language and reading tasks by age 5 and 6 but were somewhat less skilled than comparison children at ages 8 and 9. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)