The relationship of parent interactive behavior to the development of handicapped children.

Abstract

Early intervention programs for young handicapped children have increasingly focused on modifying parent-child interaction. However, they have not adequately demonstrated the effect of intervention on parent behavior, or the relationship of parent behavior to children's development. This study was designed to address these issues. Recent research demonstrates a significant positive relationship between a responsive, non-directive interaction style and children's development. The Transactional Intervention Program (TRIP) home-based model was designed to promote handicapped children's development by modifying parent interactive behavior. Two strategies, turn taking and interactive match, were developed to help parents increase responsiveness and decrease directiveness in interactions with their children. During weekly visits with families, teachers trained parents in the use of turn taking and interactive match and worked with them to develop activities to incorporate these strategies into normal daily routines. Subjects were 40 handicapped children, ages birth to three, and their parents who participated in TRIP for an average of 11 months. Parent interactive behavior was assessed in pre and post intervention videotape recordings of parent-child interaction during free play using measures of turn taking, interactive match and global behavioral style. Children's development was assessed prior to and following intervention using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Scale. Study findings indicate that parents were successful in learning TRIP strategies, and that their use of these strategies was significantly related to increased responsiveness and decreased directiveness following intervention. In addition, use of TRIP strategies was a significant predictor of children's development during intervention. Parents who were implementing turn taking and interactive match to the greatest degree had children whose rate of cognitive gain during intervention was significantly greater than their rate of gain prior to intervention. Implications of these findings for early intervention practice and future research are discussed.