This study examines blending of classroom- and family-based supports within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). The present study focuses on a sample of Head Start children who are both experiencing poverty and scoring below early language and literacy screening benchmarks. This study begins to explore which combination of resources are the…

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the participation rates and factors associated with nonparticipation among mothers living in low-income households who were invited to join a parent-education and -support research program delivered via the Internet with professional support. Methods: Four hundred and seventy-seven mothers of…

This study examined the efficacy of a multimodule parenting intervention, "My Baby & Me," that began prenatally and continued until children reached 2.5 years of age. The intervention targeted specific parenting skills designed to alter trajectories of maternal and child development. Of 361 high-risk mothers (193 adolescents, 168…

This study examined mother-child shared book reading behaviors before and after participation in a random-assignment responsive parenting intervention called Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) that occurred during infancy (PALS I), the toddler-preschool (PALS II) period, or both as compared with a developmental assessment (DAS) intervention (DAS…

In great demand are efficient mechanisms for delivery of evidence-based interventions for promoting social-emotional development and early positive behavior of all children, and especially for those with or at risk for disabilities. The rise of Internet use has created potentially new avenues for intervention delivery, which, when paired with the…

A major objective of this chapter is to present a novel, ecologically sensitive social problem-solving task for school-aged children that captures the complexity of social and cognitive demands placed on children in naturalistic situations. Competence on this task correlates with a range of skills including executive functions, verbal reasoning,…

This longitudinal study evaluated the extent to which maternal responsiveness across early childhood and children's cognitive skills predicted children's 8-year decoding and reading comprehension skills for children who varied in biological risk (term, n = 83; preterm, n = 155). Patterns of maternal responsiveness during infancy (6, 12, and 24…

This study examined the optimal timing (infancy, toddler-preschool, or both) for facilitating responsive parenting and the intervention effects on maternal behaviors and child social and communication skills for children who vary in biological risk. The intervention during infancy, Playing and Learning Strategies (PALS I), showed strong changes in…

Observed full-term and high- and low-risk preterm infants in toy-centered interactions with their mothers. Found that high-risk infants were more likely than other infants to increase their play complexity when their mothers maintained attention. All infants displayed greater play complexity when their mothers used structured interaction than when…

To understand whether a responsive parenting intervention for socially disadvantaged mothers was related to preintervention parenting resources, the authors examined both of these conditions as moderators of behavior change in 264 participating families (term, n = 120; very low birth weight, n = 144). Families were randomly assigned to an…

Four components of a comprehensive, responsive parenting style ("Responsiveness to Signals, Maintaining Attentional Focus, Rich Language, and Warmth") have been previously identified [Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., & Swank, P. R. (in press). Responsive parenting: Establishing early foundations for social, communication and independent problem…

A study of the attentional processes of 14 6-month-old infants with Down syndrome and 15 mental and motor age-matched high-risk preterm infants found that Down syndrome infants spent less time involved with toys and more time looking at their mothers, whether or not their mothers were actively involved. (Author/JDD)

Evaluated changes in mothers' interactive behaviors with infants from 6 to 40 months who were medically high risk, medically low risk, very low birthweight preterm, or full-term. Found that variations in mothers' responses to children's changing capabilities predicted rates of change in children's social skills. (Author/KB)

Examines whether mothers' verbal input at 3 years of age that specifies relations between objects, actions, and concepts (scaffolding) relates to children's development of verbal and nonverbal cognitive skills from 3 through 6 years of age. For all children scaffolding predicated verbal and nonverbal skills even after controlling for families'…

Mothers whose infants varied in early biological characteristics (born at term, n = 120; born at very low birth weight [VLBW], n = 144) were randomized to a target group (n = 133) or developmental feedback comparison group (n = 131) to determine whether learning responsive behaviors would facilitate infant development. The target condition…