Twenty mothers' provision of responsive, supportive behavioural directive, and intrusive behavioural and attentional directive speech was investigated during interactions with their children at ages 0 ; 10, 1 ; 1, 1 ; 5 and 1 ; 9 in two natural contexts, free play and bathtime. Issues examined included developmental change, contextual differences,…

Forty-eight male infants (tested at ages three and four months) experienced either conversational turn-taking or random responsiveness of their mothers. Contingency did not affect the infant's rate of vocalizing but influenced its quality and timing. Intervals at which mother delivered contingent responses were longer when infant was older.…