Maternal communicative behaviours and interaction quality as predictors of language development: Findings from a community-based study of slow-to-talk toddlers
Open accessAbstract
Background: Identifying risk and protective factors for language development informs interventions for children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Maternal responsive and intrusive communicative behaviours are associated with language development. Mother–child interaction quality may influence how children use these behaviours in language learning. Aims: To identify (1) communicative behaviours and interaction quality associated with language outcomes; (2) whether the association between a maternal intrusive behaviour (directive) and child language scores changed alongside a maternal responsive behaviour (expansion); and (3) whether interaction quality modified these associations. Methods & Procedures: Language skills were assessed at 24, 36 and 48 months in 197 community‐recruited children who were slow to talk at 18 months. Mothers and 24‐month‐olds were video‐recorded playing at home. Maternal praise, missed opportunities, and successful and unsuccessful directives (i.e., whether followed by the child) were coded during a 10‐min segment. Interaction quality was rated using a seven‐point fluency and connectedness (FC) scale, during a 5‐min segment. Linear regressions examined associations between these behaviours/rating and language scores. Interaction analysis and simple slopes explored effect modification by FC. Outcomes & Results: There was no evidence that missed opportunities or praise were associated with language scores. Higher rates of successful directives in the unadjusted model and unsuccessful directives in the adjusted model were associated with lower 24‐month‐old receptive language scores (e.g., unsuccessful directives effect size (ES) = −0.41). The association between unsuccessful directives and receptive language was weaker when adjusting for co‐occurring expansions (ES = −0.34). Both types of directives were associated with poorer receptive and expressive language scores in adjusted models at 36 and 48 months (e.g., unsuccessful directive and 48‐month receptive language, ES = −0.66). FC was positively associated with 24‐, 36‐ and 48‐month language scores in adjusted models (e.g., receptive language at 24 months, ES = 0.21, at 48 months, ES = 0.18). Interaction analysis showed the negative association between successful directives and 24‐month receptive language existed primarily in poorly connected dyads with low FC levels. Conclusions & Implications: These findings illustrate the effects of the combined interaction between different maternal communicative behaviours and features of the interaction itself on child language development, and the need to consider both in research and practice. Whilst more intrusive directives were associated with poorer language scores, this association attenuated when adjusting for co‐occurring responsive expansions, and the association was strongest for children in lower quality interactions. This work may inform clinical practice by helping clinicians target the most appropriate communicative behaviours for specific mother–child dyads.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The negative association between language scores and maternal directives attenuated after adjusting for co-occurring maternal responsive expansions and was strongest for children exposed to lower quality interactions.
“The latter association attenuated after adjusting for co-occurring maternal responsive expansions and was strongest for children exposed to lower quality interactions.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [78]
Mother-child interaction and maternal communicative-linguistic input quality play a fundamental role in the linguistic development of late talkers.
“The studies by Suttora et al. [77] and Conway et al. [78] showed the fundamental role of mother–child interaction and maternal communicative–linguistic input quality for the linguistic development of late talkers.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [78]
Participants' language scores at 24, 36, and 48 months are positively associated with good mother-child interaction qualities in terms of fluency and connectedness.
“Conway et al. [78] highlighted that the participants’ language scores at 24, 36 and 48 months were positively associated with good mother–child interaction qualities (in terms of fluency and connectedness).”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [78]
Participants' language scores at 24, 36, and 48 months are negatively associated with maternal directives in mother-child play interactions at 24 months.
“At the same time, they were negatively associated with maternal directives in mother–child play interactions at 24 months.”
From Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [78]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales
Cohen, J. (1960) · Educational and Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/001316446002000104 · Cited by 42,398 · see citing works
Kirkwood, B. R., & Sterne, J. A. C. (2014) · Bristol Research (University of Bristol) · Cited by 2,820 · see citing works
Hoff, E. (2003) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00612 · Cited by 2,346 · see citing works
Rowe, M. L. (2012) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01805.x · Cited by 1,258 · see citing works
Sources of variability in children’s language growth
Huttenlocher, J., Waterfall, H., Vasilyeva, M., Vevea, J. L., & Hedges, L. V. (2010) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.08.002 · Cited by 1,006 · see citing works
Sequential Analysis and Observational Methods for the Behavioral Sciences
Bakeman, R. A., & Quera, V. (2011) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139017343 · Cited by 845 · see citing works
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & CATALISE consortium (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158753 · Cited by 831 · see citing works
The contribution of early communication quality to low-income children’s language success
Hirsh-Pasek, K., Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R., Owen, M. T., Golinkoff, R. M., Pace, A., Yust, P. K. S., & Suma, K. (2015) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797615581493 · Cited by 784 · see citing works
Sameroff, A. J. (2009) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/11877-001 · Cited by 708 · see citing works
The Effectiveness of Parent-Implemented Language Interventions: A Meta-Analysis
Roberts, M. Y., & Kaiser, A. P. (2011) · American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology · doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2011/10-0055 · Cited by 668 · see citing works
Joint attention and lexical acquisition style
Tomasello, M., & Todd, J. (1983) · First Language · doi:10.1177/014272378300401202 · Cited by 631 · see citing works
Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., Miller-Loncar, C. L., & Swank, P. R. (1997) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.33.6.1040 · Cited by 402 · see citing works
Predicting Language Outcomes at 4 Years of Age: Findings From Early Language in Victoria Study
Reilly, S., Wake, M. A., Ukoumunne, O. C., Bavin, E. L., Prior, M. R., Cini, E., Conway, L. J., Eadie, P. A., & Bretherton, L. (2010) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2010-0254 · Cited by 379 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effects of socioeconomic status, race, and parenting on language development in early childhood.
Pungello, E. P., Iruka, I. U., Dotterer, A. M., Mills-Koonce, R., & Reznick, J. S. (2009) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0013917 · Cited by 334 · see citing works
Directive interactions and early vocabulary development: the role of joint attentional focus
Akhtar, N., Dunham, F. Y., & Dunham, P. J. (1991) · Journal of Child Language · doi:10.1017/s0305000900013283 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier, M. M., Hammer, C. S., & Maczuga, S. (2015) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12398 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Bruner, J. S. (1983) · Peabody Journal of Education · doi:10.1080/01619568309538407 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Crawley, S. B., & Spiker, D. (1983) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129684 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Masur, E. F., Flynn, V., & Eichorst, D. L. (2005) · Journal of Child Language · doi:10.1017/s0305000904006634 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Blacher, J., Baker, B. L., & Kaladjian, A. (2012) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1605-x · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Wake, M. A., Tobin, S., Girolametto, L. E., Ukoumunne, O. C., Gold, L. H., Levickis, P. A., Sheehan, J., Goldfeld, S. R., & Reilly, S. (2011) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.d4741 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Self-citationMaternal Directiveness in Interactions with Mentally Handicapped Children: An Analytical Commentary
Marfo, K. (1990) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1990.tb00796.x · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R. A., Deckner, D. F., & Nelson, P. B. (2012) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1520-1 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Gaertner, B. M., Spinrad, T. L., & Eisenberg, N. (2008) · Infant and Child Development · doi:10.1002/icd.580 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Pickles, A. R., Harris, V., Green, J., Aldred, C. R., McConachie, H., Slonims, V., Couteur, A. S. L., Hudry, K., & Charman, T. (2014) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12291 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Norbury, C., Gooch, D., Baird, G., Charman, T., Simonoff, E. A., & Pickles, A. R. (2015) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12431 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Maternal Teaching in the Zone of Proximal Development: A Comparison of Low- and High-Risk Dyads.
Díaz, R. M. (1991) · Merrill-palmer Quarterly · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Winsler, A., Díaz, R. M., McCarthy, E. M., Atencio, D. J., & Chabay, L. A. (1999) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00507 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Maternal Behaviors Promoting Language Acquisition in Slow-to-Talk Toddlers
Levickis, P. A., Reilly, S., Girolametto, L. E., Ukoumunne, O. C., & Wake, M. A. (2014) · Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics · doi:10.1097/dbp.0000000000000056 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Self-citationCommunicative initiations in normal and late-talking toddlers
Paul, R., & Shiffer, M. E. (1991) · Applied Psycholinguistics · doi:10.1017/s0142716400005853 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Contingency and Breakdown: Children With SLI and Their Conversations With Mothers and Fathers
Conti‐Ramsden, G., Hutcheson, G., & Grove, J. (1995) · Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research · doi:10.1044/jshr.3806.1290 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Age 31 Mental Health Outcomes of Childhood Language and Speech Disorders
Beitchman, J. H., Brownlie, E. B., & Bao, L. (2014) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2014.07.006 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Wake, M. A., Levickis, P. A., Tobin, S., Zens, N., Law, J., Gold, L. H., Ukoumunne, O. C., Goldfeld, S. R., Le, H., Skeat, J., et al. (2012) · BMC Pediatrics · doi:10.1186/1471-2431-12-96 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationPredictors of parent–child interaction style in dyads with autism
Hudry, K., Aldred, C. R., Wigham, S., Green, J., Leadbitter, K., Temple, K., Barlow, K., & McConachie, H. (2013) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.07.015 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Mothers' Social Communicative Adjustments to Young Children With Mild Developmental Delays
Guralnick, M. J., Neville, B., Hammond, M. A., & Connor, R. T. (2008) · American Journal on Mental Retardation · doi:10.1352/0895-8017(2008)113[1:mscaty]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Uziel, L. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167210386239 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Direct and Indirect Effects of Behavioral Parent Training on Infant Language Production
Bagner, D. M., Garcia, D., & Hill, R. M. (2015) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2015.11.001 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Redirective labels and early vocabulary development
Shimpi, P. M., & Huttenlocher, J. (2007) · Journal of Child Language · doi:10.1017/s0305000907008112 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
MEASURING PARENT-CHILD MUTUALITY: A REVIEW OF CURRENT OBSERVATIONAL CODING SYSTEMS
Funamoto, A., & Rinaldi, C. M. (2014) · Infant Mental Health Journal · doi:10.1002/imhj.21481 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Failure to learn from feedback underlies word learning difficulties in toddlers at risk for autism
Bedford, R., Gliga, T., FRAME, K., Hudry, K., Chandler, S., Johnson, M. H., Charman, T., & THE BASIS TEAM (2012) · Journal of Child Language · doi:10.1017/s0305000912000086 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Alston, E., & James‐Roberts, I. S. (2005) · International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders · doi:10.1080/13682820400006861 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Clinical Assessments of Parent-Child Interaction
Mahoney, G. J., Spiker, D., & Boyce, G. C. (1996) · Topics in Early Childhood Special Education · doi:10.1177/027112149601600105 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Why Talk with Children Matters: Clinical Implications of Infant- and Child-Directed Speech Research
Ratner, N. (2013) · Seminars in Speech and Language · doi:10.1055/s-0033-1353449 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Scoglio, C., Bosca, C., Riad, M. H., et al. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162759 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Everyday Child Language Learning Early Intervention Practices
Dunst, C. J., Trivette, C. M., & Raab, M. (2014) · Infants & Young Children · doi:10.1097/iyc.0000000000000015 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Semel, E., Wiig, E. H. and Secord, W. A., 2006, The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool, Second Edition (CELF-P2): Australian Standardised Edition, 2nd edn (Harcourt Assessment).
- Vygotsky, L. S., 1978, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Mental Process (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
- Zimmerman, I. L., Steiner, V. G. and Pond, R. E., 2002, The Preschool Language Scale, 4th Edition (San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation).
- Conway, L. J., Levickis, P. A., Smith, J., Mensah, F., Wake, M. & Reilly, S. (2018). Maternal communicative behaviours and interaction quality as predictors of language development: findings from a community-based study of slow-to-talk toddlers. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS, 53 (2), pp.339-354. https:// doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12352. Persistent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/293998
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sansavini, A., Favilla, M. E., Guasti, M. T., Marini, A., Millepiedi, S., Di Martino, M. V., Vecchi, S., Battajon, N., Bertolo, L., Capirci, O., et al. (2021) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci11050654 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
- Authors
- Conway, L. J., Levickis, P. A., Smith, J., Mensah, F., Wake, M., & Reilly, S.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (AU)
- Royal Children's Hospital (AU)
- Griffith University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Conway, Laura J.
- Venue
- International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-12-07
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 339-354
- ISSN
- 1368-2822 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-6984
- OpenAlex
- W2775616774
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 3.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Funders
- National Health and Medical Research Council (Career Development Fellowship for FM 1111160, Centre of Research Excellence 1023493, Early Career Fellowship for FM 1037449, Practitioner Fellowship for SR 1041892, Project Grant 607407, Strategic Award 384491)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Hearing Impairment and Communication
- Keywords
- mother-child interaction, language development, specific language impairment, directive communication, receptive language, expressive language, interaction quality, missed opportunities, toddlers, risk and protective factors, early intervention, community-based study, effect modification
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Child, Preschool, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Language, Language Development, Language Development Disorders, Male, Maternal Behavior, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
