The relations among specific aspects of language (comprehension, production, semantics, and utterance length), relations between language and symbolic play, and maternal influences were evaluated in mother-toddler dyads when the children were 13 and 20 months of age. Found toddler language ability did not generally predict toddler play and that…

Motivationally distinct forms of child compliance, mutually positive affect, and maternal control were observed as correlates of internalization in 103 mother-toddler dyads. Found that children who shared positive affect with their mothers showed a high level of committed compliance and were also more internalized. Maternal "Do's" appeared more…

Examined 30 Indonesian toddlers' play with their mothers and siblings. Found that the level of object play and mutual involvement in cooperative social pretend play increased with age. Findings suggest that older siblings can be effective facilitators of pretend play with younger children. (MDM)

Examined gender labeling and gender stereotyping in toddlers and their relationship to mothers' sex-role attitudes and responses to their children's sex-typed behavior in a free-play situation. Toddlers who understood gender labels displayed more knowledge of gender stereotypes than those who did not. (GLR)

Professionals and 16 mothers of disabled infants/toddlers completed the Evaluation and Programing System-I and the Parent Form Level I, respectively. Results indicated moderate to high correlations between professionals' assessments and mothers' assessments, though mothers tended to rate children higher. (Author/JDD)

Observed neglecting and nonneglecting mothers and their one- to three-year-old children during unstructured play interaction in their homes. Neglecting mothers were less positive in their responsiveness to their children and less competent in the developmental appropriateness of their play interactions than nonneglecting mothers. (MM)

This study of 5 hearing-impaired and 6 normally hearing children (ages 1-3) and their mothers found that mother directives were more frequently expressed during interaction with children exhibiting less advanced language abilities, and both groups of children were more likely to produce topically related responses to their mother's directive…

Mothers' reports of toddlers' behavior were used to determine groupings and the sequence of behaviors associated with self-concept development. The following sequence was determined: (1) physical self-recognition; (2) neutral and evaluative self-description; and (3) emotional responses to wrongdoing. (BC)

Analysis of the social exchanges of 33 toddlers with developmental disabilities showed that more of the observation time was spent socially with mothers than with peers, and the number of turns per exchange was longer with mothers. However, toddlers initiated more social exchanges with peers than with mothers. Few changes were exhibited over time.…

Examined factors predicting parenting behavior of adolescent mothers of 24-month olds in a family-support program. Found that teens providing higher quality care had more positive childrearing beliefs, were less psychologically distressed, perceived their children as less irritable, and lived in higher quality neighborhoods than those providing…

Assessed long-term predictive validity of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Sentences (CDI:WS) for children's expressive and receptive vocabulary development. Sixty-one New Zealand children were assessed with a New Zealand version of the CDI, and with the Expressive Vocabulary Test and Peabody Picture Vocabulary…

A study involving 21 toddlers with hearing impairments and 21 typical toddlers and their mothers found that child emotional availability made significant positive predictors of language gain. Maternal emotional availability, however, made significantly greater positive predictors of child language gain for children with hearing impairments than…

Topic choice, topic synchrony, and utterance function during mother-child play sessions at age 3 were examined in 32 late talkers and 21 comparison children, matched at intake on age, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal ability. Late talkers and comparison children did not differ in number of utterances, topic initiation, topic synchrony, use of…

Thirty-three mother-child dyads participating in an early intervention program were observed through three 8-minute sessions that were videotaped for each dyad at the 5th, 10th, and 15th months. By 15 months, about half the dyads experienced an event that was defined as establishing successful interactions. Mothers' marital status predicted…

Forty-eight mothers were asked to instruct their preterm and full-term 24-month-old children to sort blocks according to size and color. Dyads were observed for their ability to find a mutual and stable instructional relationship. Children later identified as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were in dyads marked by significantly…