Parent-child interaction is a cornerstone of early intervention. Caution is necessary, however, in transferring models of early intervention developed in one culture to parents from a different culture. It is essential that early intervention be grounded in an understanding of how parents from different cultures might perceive their interactions with their children. The current study analyzed interviews with 16 Taiwanese mothers of babies with Down syndrome. Interviews were analyzed using emergent themes related to perceived benefits of parent-child interaction for children's development and to parental roles that support these benefits. The perceptions captured in these interviews appear to reflect cultural views of parent-child interaction as well as parents' perceptions of and adaptations to the characteristics and needs of their babies with Down syndrome.
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