Mothers' verbal directives to delayed and nondelayed children

Effects of child age and child intelligence on mothers' use of verbal directives with delayed and nondelayed children ages 2.5 to 3 years and 4.5 to 5 years were examined. Mothers used significantly more directives with 2- and 4-year-old delayed children than with 2- and 4-year-old nondelayed children. The means of mothers' directives for 2- and 4-year-old children were similar for both groups. When mothers' directive scores to nondelayed 2-year-old and delayed 4-year-old children were plotted according to the children's comparable mean lengths of utterance, mothers' directives for the delayed 4-year-old children exceeded those for the nondelayed 2-year-old children with few exceptions.