VERBAL AND NONVERBAL INTERACTION OF MOTHERS WITH THEIR DOWNS-SYNDROME AND NONRETARDED INFANTS

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 82  (4) , 337-343
Abstract
The influence of parental expectancies due to early knowledge of the condition of Down''s syndrome on parent-child interactions was studied. In an observational, laboratory-based study, verbal and nonverbal interactions between 10 mothers and their Down''s syndrome infants and 10 mothers and their nonretarded infants were compared. Although there was no difference between the groups in mothers'' language complexity, mothers of Down''s syndrome children spoke at a significantly faster rate. Observational measures of infants showed that Down''s syndrome babies smiled and vocalized less, but mothers in the 2 groups failed to differ significantly on the nonverbal interactional behavior observed. Language delays in Down''s syndrome children may be due in part to differences in the environment provided by caregivers.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: