Mother-infant interaction was observed during 15 minutes of free play in the homes of 40 families with 8- to 32-month-old infants who were evenly divided into two groups. The first group included mothers and their infants who had both developmental delay and cerebral palsy. The second group included mothers and their infants who were nondelayed and matched to the first group of infants according to their MA. Two-tailed paired t-tests indicated that mothers of infants with cerebral palsy were more verbally and physically directive and engaged in fewer positive behaviors in their initiation and response communication patterns to their infants than mothers of the infants with no delays. The infants with cerebral palsy were more compliant, less responsive, engaged in fewer voluntary responses, and were held more frequently than their counterparts. The mothers and their infants with cerebral palsy also engaged in more physical contact and fewer face-to-face interactions than mothers and their infants with no delays. The findings of this study elucidate for the first time the nonverbal differences in communication patterns for mothers and their infants with no delays vs. mothers and their infants with cerebral palsy. Implications of the effects of these differences are discussed in relationship to the development of the infant with cerebral palsy.
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