| The early organization of parent-child interaction is the basis for language, cognitive and social emotional development. Play has been identified as a primary avenue to enhance these skills. Few studies have been conducted on how parents of young children with special needs interact with their caregivers, particularly in the earliest years prior to entering school.;The work completed by researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risely (1995) yielded significant differences in the number of words used and positive statements generated to young children by their parents based on socio-economic level. Fewer words and negative statements later correlated to the children's cognitive development and school success. Since socio-economic status demonstrated differences, similar differences could be possible with respect to caregivers of children with special needs. In view of the lack of this empirical data, further investigation seemed crucial.;The purpose of this study was to observe, compare, and record how mothers interacted, verbally and non-verbally, with their young children (with and without special needs) while participating in an inclusionary playgroup environment. Mothers were interviewed before and after attending their scheduled playgroup session in an effort to determine how comfortable they felt while participating. Four mother-child dyads, two children with special needs and two without, from the same socio-economic group were observed to see if differences existed. Analysis of the transcriptions were conducted using an adapted form of Hart and Risley's juniper Project (1995) coding system and non-verbal categories established by the SKI*HI Institute to determine if differences in parent-child interaction existed. Pre- and post-interviews were analyzed and coded using an adapted form of Appl, Fahl-Gooler, and McCollum's coding system (1997).;Results of this study indicated that there were more similarities than differences in the way mothers communicated with their young children. Mothers exhibited similar turn-taking trajectories, frequency of social episodes, and consistent responses to their children's communication attempts. They tended to produce more words, more variety of utterances, and longer social episodes while participating in mutual play as compared to all other activity contexts. In addition, mothers displayed a similar number of times when they conveyed warmth, used gestures, facial expression, eye contact, pointing, inflection, and positive statements. The differences found in this study were that mothers of children with special needs tended to use more purposeful touching, executed more non-verbal turns, used more negatives and imperatives, spent less time engaged in mutual play, asked fewer questions at a higher level of thinking, and generated fewer words to their children within specific age groups.;Research has indicated that some of the above differences can have a detrimental effect on children's overall development. Therefore, early intervention programs need to support, guide, and inform caregivers of their critical role in enhancing their children's language and cognitive development through positive interactions that are rich in both non-verbal and verbal language. Providing play opportunities for children with special needs with their caregivers and playmates their own age will allow for this positive interaction to occur. |
