Directiveness in teachers' language input to toddlers and preschoolers in day care.

Five subtypes of directiveness were examined in the interactions of day care teachers with toddler and preschooler groups. The instructional context (book reading, play dough) yielded significant differences across all five subtypes of directiveness, indicating that these two activities elicited different types of teacher-child discourse. Book reading was characterized by significantly more behavior and response control and less conversation control in comparison with the play-dough activity. Correlations between teachers' directiveness and child language productivity indicated that behavior control and turn-taking control were associated with low levels of productivity, whereas conversation control was associated with the highest levels of productivity. The results of this study confirm that instructional context is an important mediator of teachers' directiveness and suggest that subtypes of directiveness have differential effects on child language output.

Effects of lexical intervention on the phonology of late talkers.

The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether a focused stimulation intervention focusing on lexical training has indirect, secondary effects on children's phonological abilities. Twenty-five toddlers with expressive vocabulary delays and their mothers were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The children were between 23 and 33 months of age at entry into the study and were at the single-word stage of language development. Parents of late talkers in the experimental group were trained to employ frequent, highly concentrated presentations of target words without requiring responses. Two measures of phonological diversity (i.e., syllable structure level and consonant inventory) and one measure of accuracy of production (i.e., percent consonants correct) were measured prior to and following intervention within the context of mother-child interactions. The toddlers who received intervention made treatment gains in two areas of phonological ability. They used a greater variety of complex syllable shapes and expanded their speech sound inventories to include more consonant sounds in both initial and final position. In contrast, there were no effects of language treatment on the accuracy of correct production when compared to the adult phonological system.

Interactive focused stimulation for toddlers with expressive vocabulary delays.

This study explores the effects of training parents to administer focused stimulation intervention to teach specific target words to their toddlers with expressive vocabulary delays. Twenty-five mothers and their late-talking toddlers were randomly assigned to treatment and delayed-treatment (control) groups. Vocabulary targets were individually selected for each toddler based on the child's phonetic repertoire and parent report of vocabulary development. Following treatment, mothers' language input was slower, less complex, and more focused than mothers in the control group. Concomitantly, their children used more target words in naturalistic probes, used more words in free-play interaction, and were reported to have larger vocabularies overall as measured by parent report. In addition, the treatment had an effect on language development-children in the experimental group used more multiword combinations and early morphemes than children in the control group. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to the role of focused stimulation intervention for children with expressive vocabulary delays.

Correlates of directiveness in the interactions of fathers and mothers of children with developmental delays.

Twenty preschool-age children with developmental delays and language impairment participated in this study, which compared fathers' and mothers' directiveness and parental stress. Similarities between fathers and mothers were found for turntaking control, response referents, and responses to the child's participation. However, fathers differed from mothers in two of the dimensions of directiveness examined: fathers used more response control and topic control than mothers. Both parents reported similarly low levels of child-related and parenting stress, but mothers perceived more stress than fathers related to the responsibilities associated with parenting a child with a handicap. Correlations between directiveness, child characteristics, and stress revealed that fathers used greater turntaking control and topic control with children who were developmentally less mature, whereas mothers used greater topic control with children who were less involved in interaction. Both fathers' and mothers' use of response control was positively related to stress. Implications for involving fathers in parent-focused intervention include screening father-child interactions before intervention, interpreting parent-child interaction styles in terms of their role in enhancing the child's social participation, and acknowledging the role of familial factors (such as stress) on interaction styles.

Language intervention with children who have developmental delays: effects of an interactive approach.

The interactive model of language intervention instructs parents to use techniques that promote reciprocal social interactions and facilitate the development of communication and language abilities. In this evaluation study, 32 mothers and their preschool-age children with developmental delays were randomly assigned to treatment and control (delayed treatment) groups. Consistent with the interactive model, mothers in the treatment group became more responsive, less directive, and provided clearer linguistic models. Furthermore, these changes were maintained for at least 4 months after intervention, and involvement in the parent-centered intervention program did not increase maternal stress. More important, these changes were accompanied by concomitant increases in children's use of vocal turns. Contrary to predictions, developmental improvements in children's communicative and linguistic abilities were comparable in both groups. Findings suggest that an interactive model may afford a useful adjunct to other intervention approaches by instructing parents on how to promote children's use of existing abilities, but an interactive model may have no effect on language acquisition of at least some children with developmental delays.

Improving the social-conversational skills of developmentally delayed children: an intervention study.

Twenty mothers and their preschool-aged, developmentally delayed children participated in this parent-focused intervention study. Nine mother-child dyads received an 11-week training program that espoused a social-conversational approach, while 11 dyads served as controls. Pre- and posttest videotapes were transcribed and coded to yield measures of turn taking, as well as indexes of responsiveness, topic control, and uninvolvement. Following treatment, the mothers in the experimental group were more responsive to and less controlling of their children's behavior than the mothers in the comparison group. The children initiated more topics, were more responsive to their mother's preceding turns, and used more verbal turns and a more diverse vocabulary than the control group children. No differences in language development, as measured by a standardized test, were found. Individual maternal responses to intervention as well as implications for modifying parent training programs are discussed.