Social turn taking, a preverbal social communication competency often difficult for young children with autism, may be foundational to joint attention when included as a component of interventions for children with autism. In this study, social turn-taking was promoted through a parent mediated learning approach to intervention in a telehealth…

Developmental research confirms the importance of early parental language input for building children's vocabulary and language skills (Hart & Risley, 1995). While reading with a caregiver is a common way for language input to occur, the approaches parents utilize often fail to capitalize on techniques for improving language and pre-literacy…

Parents are encouraged to read to their children as early as possible. Multiple studies of parent-child shared book reading with children ages 3 years and older have shown positive outcomes on parent use of language-based strategies and child language development. However, few studies have included children under the age of 3; thus, little is…

Background: Systematic reviews have shown attachment-based parenting programs to lead to improvements in parenting sensitivity and infant attachment, but none have focused specifically on the impact of attachment-based parenting programs on externalizing symptoms in young children. Objective: The objective of this study was to review published…

Parent-mediated intervention can enhance parents' competence in supporting parent-child social interactions. Research and current policy have highlighted the importance of building family capacity in supporting parents to help children with autism develop social communication abilities. Parents who experienced parent-mediated interventions have…

Parent-mediated intervention can enhance parents' competence in supporting parent-child social interactions. Research and current policy have highlighted the importance of building family capacity in supporting parents to help children with autism develop social communication abilities. Parents who experienced parent-mediated interventions have…

This study examined long-term mediating effects of the "smalltalk" parenting intervention on children's effortful control at school age (7.5 years; 2016-2018). In 2010-2012, parents (96% female) of toddlers (N = 1201; aged 12-36 months; 52% female) were randomly assigned to either: standard playgroup, "smalltalk" playgroup…

Shared book reading is a well-established vehicle for promoting child language and early development. Yet, existing shared reading interventions have primarily included only children age 3 years and older and high quality dialogic strategies have been less systematically applied for infants and toddlers. To address this gap, we have developed a…

How parents support social learning at the preverbal level for toddlers with autism is rarely reported, limiting the field's understanding of factors that may influence early development of social competency. As a central challenge in autism that is resistant to intervention, preverbal social initiating is an important indicator of social…

The present study examined what kind of parenting best supports toddlers' self-control in the context of poverty. Parents and toddlers (52% female; M[subscript age] = 2.60 years) in 117 families (35% White, 25% Black, 22% Latinx, 15% Multiracial, and 3% Asian; M family income = $1,845/month) engaged in structured interaction tasks, and toddlers…

Background: Indirect speech and language therapy, such as parent-implemented intervention, has been shown to be an effective approach for young children with speech and language disorders. However, relatively few studies have compared outcomes of parent-directed therapy with child-directed intervention, that is, individual therapy of a child…

The topic of the three chapters of this dissertation is empowering caregivers of children with or at high likelihood for autism to implement interventions in home settings with high fidelity to promote their child's social communication development. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the previous studies focused on caregiver-implemented early…

The purpose of this pilot study was to develop and evaluate the feasibility of an experiential teaching and learning initiative that trained undergraduate students studying speech-language pathology to serve as family navigators promoting social communication and language development in infants and toddlers from lower-income backgrounds. Three…

There has been limited research on interventions with young children encompassing "interoceptive awareness," the awareness and perception of sensations from inside the body. The information in this phenomenological study examines how participants experienced a bidirectional, reflective, online intervention program on interoceptive…

The focus of this article is on home visiting in child welfare, an activity which involves a publicly accountable performance of professional tasks in a private space. We specifically examine a recording of a visit by a home learning worker to a mother and her three-year-old child with special needs. In the first part of the article, sequential…