This study investigated maternal verbal and nonverbal behaviours during mother-infant object involvement episodes and their relation to infant cognitive level and productive vocabulary. Thirty mother-infant dyads were observed at home during 20 minutes of play at 9 months and 10 minutes of play at 15 months with two different toys. Developmental change in maternal scaffolding behaviours was sensitive to toy difficulty. Scaffolding at both ages was related to the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI), and scaffolding at 15 months was related concurrently to infant vocabulary. Labelling at 15 months, under both joint and non- joint attentional conditions, was related both to Bayley MDI and to concurrent infant vocabulary. Verbal behavioural directives at both ages were related to Bayley MDI and at 15 months were related concurrently to infant vocabulary. Attention-getting directives decreased with age and were unrelated to either MDI or vocabulary. Somewhat different results were obtained with frequencies vs. proportional frequencies of types of maternal verbalizations,
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