An investigation of maternal interaction with phonologically disordered children as compared to two groups of...

This study looked at the verbal interaction between mothers and their offspring with phonological disorders (age 3;6-5;1 years) who otherwise had language development within normal limits. This interaction was compared to two groups of mothers with children who were developing all aspects of language normally. There were eight subjects in each of the three groups: the phonologically disordered children (PDC), a group matched for age and language ability (AMG) and a group of children under 3 years (YCG) with age appropriate phonological development. Audio tapes were transcribed and percentage frequencies of certain verbal behaviours in both adult and child were calculated. The mother-child interaction of the phonologically disordered group was found to differ significantly from that of the peer group and more closely to resemble that of the younger normally developing children and their mothers.