Purpose: Caregivers may show greater use of nonauditory signals in interactions with children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). This study explored the frequency of maternal touch and the temporal alignment of touch with speech in the input to children who are DHH and age-matched peers with normal hearing. Method: We gathered audio and video…

Multimodal communication may facilitate attention in infants. This study examined the presentation of caregiver touch-only and touch + speech input to 12-month-olds at high (HRA) and low risk for ASD. Findings indicated that, although both groups received a greater number of touch + speech bouts compared to touch-only bouts, the duration of…

Both touch and speech independently have been shown to play an important role in infant development. However, little is known about how they may be combined in the input to the child. We examined the use of touch and speech together by having mothers read their 5-month-olds books about body parts and animals. Results suggest that speech+touch…

Studies conducted in Western countries document the special role of mother--infant face-to-face exchanges for early emotional development including social smiling. A few cross-cultural studies have shown that the Western pattern of face-to-face communication is absent in traditional rural cultures, without identifying other processes that promote…

Maternal touch and infants' self-regulatory behaviours were examined during a modified Still-Face with Touch (SF?+?T) procedure. Mothers and their 5½-month-old infants participated in one period of Normal interaction followed by three SF?+?T periods. Maternal functions of touch, and infants' self-regulatory behaviour, affect, and…

Using the concepts of sensory and affective experience, this work relates the concepts of socialization and cognitive development to the embodiment of gender in the human infant. Evidence obtained from biweekly observations from 30 children and their mothers observed from age 3 months to age 12 months revealed measurable sex-related differences in…

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of Qigong Sensory Training, a parent-implemented tactile intervention, in improving sensory processing and self-regulation in children with or at-risk for autism who were enrolled in early intervention. A pretest-posttest, single-subject design was implemented with three families. After 5 months, atypical…

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to the development of deaf children, though few studies have included Deaf parents. The present study examined emotional availability (EA) and functions of touch used by Deaf or hearing parents with hearing or deaf infants during free play. Sixty dyads representing four hearing status groups…

Animal studies demonstrate that maternal touch and contact regulate infant stress, and handling during periods of maternal deprivation attenuates the stress response. To measure the effects of touch on infant stress reactivity during simulated maternal deprivation, 53 dyads were tested in two paradigms: still-face (SF) and still-face with maternal…

The study of infant communication during mother-infant interactions has largely focused on infants' distal behaviours, while neglecting their more proximal behaviours, such as touch. Yet, touch is an important modality through which infants and mothers communicate; it is also a vital means through which infants self-regulate and explore their…