The play and language behavior of mothers with (n = 49) and without (n = 49) specific reading disabilities (RD) was investigated during play with their 14-month-old children. The contribution of maternal behavior to the language development of their children was examined. The children's receptive and expressive language skills were assessed longitudinally at 14, 18, and 30 months, using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories and the Reynell Developmental Language Scales. Children with and without familial risk for RD did not differ from each other in any play or language measures at these ages. No group differences were found for mothers' manifestations of nonsymbolic play and language. However, the typically reading (TR) mothers produced significantly more symbolic play and language in play interactions with their child than did the mothers with RD. The correspondence between mother—child symbolic play and maternal play-related language was also higher for the TR group than it was for the RD group. The mothers' symbolic play did not show any relation to their children's language development, but their expressions of symbolic language did show a relationship. The mothers' child-directed symbolic language contributed significantly toward the comprehension skills of 14- and 18-montholds in the RD group. This association, however, was lower at 30 months, at which point it was reliably present for the first time in the TR group.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barnes, S.B., Gutfreund, M., Satterly, D.J., & Wells, C.G. (1983). Characteristics of adult speech which predict children's language development. Journal of Child Language , 10, 65—84.
2.
Bayley, N. (1993). Bayley scales of infant development (2nd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
3.
Beeghley, M. (1998). Emergence of symbolic play: Perspectives from typical and atypical development. In J. A. Burack, R. M. Hodapp, & E. Zigler (Eds.), Handbook of mental retardation and development (pp. 240—288). Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press.
4.
Belsky, J., & Most, R.K. (1981). From exploration to play: A cross-sectional study of infant free play behavior. Developmental Psychology, 17, 630—639.
5.
Bergen, D., & Mauer, D. (2000). Symbolic play, phonological awareness, and literacy skills at three age levels. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (pp. 45—62). London: Erlbaum .
6.
Bloom, L. (1998). Language acquisition in its developmental context . In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed., pp. 306—370). New York: Wiley.
7.
Bornstein, M.C., Haynes, O.M., O'Reilly, A.W., & Painter, K.M. (1996). Solitary and collaborative pretense play in early childhood: Sources of individual variation in the development of representational competence. Child Development, 67, 2910—2929.
8.
Bornstein, M. C., & O'Reilly, A. (Eds.). (1993). New directions for child development. Vol. 59: The role of play in the development of thought. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
9.
Bornstein, M.C., Selmi, A.M., Haynes, O.M., Painter, K.M., & Marx, E.S. (1999). Representational abilities and the hearing status of child/mother dyads. Child Development, 70, 833—852.
10.
Bornstein, M.C., & Tamis-LeMonda, C.S. (1995). Parent—child symbolic play: Three theories in search of an effect. Developmental Review, 15, 382—400.
11.
Bornstein, M.C., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., & Haynes, O.M. (1999). First words in the second year: Continuity, stability, and models of concurrent and predictive correspondence in vocabulary and verbal responsiveness across age and context. Infant Behavior and Development, 22, 65—85.
12.
Casby, M.W. (1997). Symbolic play of children with language impairment: A critical review. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40, 468—479.
13.
DeFries, J.C. (1991). Genetics and dyslexia: An overview. In M. Snowling & M. Thomson (Eds.), Dyslexia: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 3—20). London: Whurr.
14.
Fein, G.G., & Fryer, M.G. (1995). Maternal contribution to early symbolic play competence . Developmental Review, 15, 367— 381.
15.
Fenson, L., Dale, P.S., Reznick, J.S., Bates, E., Thal, D., & Pethick, S.J. (1994). Variability in early communicative development . Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development , 59(5, Serial No. 242).
16.
Fiese, B.H. (1990). Playful relationships: A contextual analysis of mother—toddler interaction and symbolic play. Child Development, 61, 1648—1656.
17.
Gallagher, A., Frith, U., & Snowling, M.J. (2000). Precursors of literacy delay among children at genetic risk of dyslexia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 202—213.
18.
Girolametto, L., & Pearce, P.S. (1996). Interactive focused stimulation for toddlers with expressive vocabulary delays. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 39, 1274—1283.
19.
Harris, M. (1992). Language experience and early language development: From input to uptake. Hove, UK: Erlbaum.
20.
Høien, T., & Lundberg, I. (1989). A strategy for assessing problems in word recognition among dyslexics. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research , 33, 185—201.
21.
Laakso, M.-L., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Lyytinen, P. (1999). Shared reading interaction in families with and without genetic risk for dyslexia: Implications for toddlers' language development . Infant and Child Development, 8, 179—195.
22.
Leinonen, S., Muller, K., Leppänen, P., Aro, M., Ahonen, T., & Lyytinen, H. (2001). Heterogeneity in adult dyslexic readers: Relating processing skills to the speed and accuracy of oral text reading. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 14, 265—296.
23.
Lyytinen, H., Ahonen, T., Eklund, K., Guttorm, T.K., Laakso, M.-L., Leinonen, S., et al. (2001). Developmental pathways of children with and without familial risk for dyslexia during the first years of life. Developmental Neuropsychology, 20, 535— 554.
24.
Lyytinen, H., Leinonen, S., Nikula, M., Aro, M., & Leiwo, M. (1995). In search of the core features of dyslexia: Observations concerning dyslexia in the highly ortho-graphically regular Finnish language . In V. Berninger (Ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge II: Relationships to phonology, reading, and writing (pp. 177—204). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
25.
Lyytinen, P. (1999). Varhaisen kommunikaation ja kielen kehityksen arviointimenetelmä [Finnish manual for Communicative Development Inventory] . Jyväskylä, Finland: University of Jyväskylä, Child Research Center and Niilo Mäki Institute.
26.
Lyytinen, P., Laakso, M.-L., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Rita, N. (1999). The development and predictive relations of play and language across the second year. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 40, 177—186.
27.
Lyytinen, P., Poikkeus, A.-M., Laakso, M.-L., Eklund, K., & Lyytinen, H. (2001). Language development and symbolic play in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44, 873—885.
28.
McCathren, R.B., Warren, S.F., & Yoder, P. (1996). Prelinguistic predictors of later language development . In K. N. Cole, P. S. Dale, & D. J. Thal (Eds.), Assessment of communication and language (pp. 57—75). Baltimore: Brookes .
29.
McCathren, R.B., & Yoder, P.J. (1998). Representational ability as a predictor of later expressive vocabulary. Journal of Children's Communication Development, 20, 1—8.
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton.
32.
Raven, J.C., Court, J.H., & Raven, J. (1992). Standard progressive matrices. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists Press.
33.
Rescorla, L., & Goossens, M. (1992). Symbolic play development in toddlers with expressive specific language impairment (SLI-E). Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 1290—1302.
34.
Reynell, J.K., & Huntley, M. (1987). Reynell Developmental Language Scales manual (2nd ed.). Windsor, UK: NFER-Nelson.
35.
Richardson, U., Leppänen, P.H.T., Leiwo, M., & Lyytinen, H. (in press). Speech perception differences in infants at risk for dyslexia as early as six months of age. Developmental Neuropsychology .
36.
Sachs, J. (1984). Children's play and communicative development . In R. Schiefelbusch & J. Pickar (Eds.), The acquisition of communicative competence (Language intervention series, Vol. VIII, pp. 111—140). Baltimore: University Park Press.
37.
Scarborough, H.S. (1990). Very early language deficits in dyslexic children . Child Development, 61, 1728—1743.
38.
Scarborough, H.S. (1991). Early syntactic development of dyslexic children . Annals of Dyslexia, 41, 207—220.
39.
Scarborough, H.S., Dobrich, W., & Hager, M. (1991) Preschool literacy experience and later reading achievement. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24, 508—511.
40.
Scarborough, H.S., & Fichtelberg, A. (1993). Child-directed talk in families with incidence of dyslexia. First Language, 13, 51— 67.
Sigman, M., & Sena, R. (1993). Pretend play in high-risk and developmentally delayed children. In M. H. Bornstein & A. O'Reilly (Eds.), New directions for child development: The role of play in the development of thought (Vol. 59, pp. 329—429). San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.
43.
Slade, A. (1987). A longitudinal study of maternal involvement and symbolic play during the toddler period. Child Development , 58, 367—375.
44.
Tamis-LeMonda, C.S. (1996). Introduction: Maternal sensitivity: Individual, contextual and cultural factors in recent conceptualizations. Early Development and Parenting, 5, 167—171.
45.
Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., & Bornstein, M.H. (1991). Individual variation, correspondence, stability and change in mother and toddler play. Infant Behavior and Development, 14, 143—162.
46.
Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., & Bornstein, M.H. (1994). Specificity in mother—toddler language-play relations across the second year. Developmental Psychology, 30, 283— 292.
47.
Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., & Bornstein, M.H. (1996). Variation in children's exploratory, nonsymbolic, and symbolic play: An exploratory multidimensional framework. In R. Rovee-Collier & L. Lipsitt (Eds.), Advances in infancy research (Vol. 10, pp. 37—78). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
48.
Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Bornstein, M.H., & Baumwell, L. (2001). Maternal responsiveness and children's achievement of language milestones. Child Development, 72, 748—767.
49.
Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Bornstein, M.H., Baumwell, L., & Damast, A.M. (1996). Responsive parenting in the second year: Specific influences on children's language and play. Early Development and Parenting, 5, 173—183.
50.
Teti, D.M., O'Connell, M.A., & Reiner, C.D. (1996). Parenting sensitivity, parental depression and child health: The mediational role of parental self-efficacy. Early Development and Parenting, 5, 237—250.
51.
Užgiris, I.C., & Raeff, C. (1995). Play in parent—child interactions. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting. Vol. 4. Applied and practical parenting (pp. 353— 376). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
52.
Van der Leij, A., Lyytinen, H., & Zwarts, F. (2001). The study of infant cognitive processes in dyslexia . In A. Fawcett (Ed.), Dyslexia. Theory and good practice (pp. 160— 181). London: Whurr.
53.
Yoder, P.J., & Kaiser, A.P. (1989). Alternative explanations for the relationship between maternal verbal interaction style and child language development. Journal of Child Language, 16, 141—160.
