Parenting Matters: Parent–Child Interactions in Down Syndrome and Recommendations for Future Research

The relationship between the quality of parent-child interactions and positive child development is well established in the literature. Nevertheless, parental and familial factors may pose risks to parents’ capacity to participate in quality interactions with their children. Families with a child with a disability in particular are more likely to experience social isolation, and higher levels of parenting stress. Early intervention programmes to promote positive parent-child interaction for these families is well recognised. However, there is a lack of literature about the effectiveness of such programmes for these families. This research study explores music therapy on parent-child interaction, specifically focusing on children with a diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS). This case study involves two in-depth cases of children diagnosed with DS and their primary caregivers. The study documents individual music therapy sessions which took place over a six week period. The case study materials were gathered through the researcher’s direct observations, fieldwork notes, and reflective journal logs. The music therapy block encouraged the primary caregivers to be more responsive during parent-child interactions. Furthermore, the children involved learned to engage and share musical activities with their mothers.

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Parent—Child Interactions With Anxious Children and With Their Siblings: An Observational Study

Behaviour Change ◽

10.1375/bech.22.4.220 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 220-235 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Paula M. Barrett ◽

Tara Fox ◽

Lara J. Farrell

Keyword(s):

Observational Study ◽

Future Research ◽

Anxious Child ◽

Coping Behaviour ◽

Task Involvement ◽

Sibling Interactions ◽

Parent Child Interactions ◽

Anxious Group ◽

And Task ◽

Parent Child

AbstractIn the present study, parent–child interactions with anxious children were compared to parent–child interactions with the anxious children's nonsymptomatic siblings and parent–child interactions with nonclinic children. Participants included 33 anxious children, their parents and siblings, and 14 nonclinic children and their parents. Parent–child interactions were observed during two discussion tasks related to anxiety-provoking or challenging situations. Parent–child interactions were coded for the following variables: control, warmth, reward of coping behaviour and task involvement. Consistent with previous research, parents in the anxious group showed more control, less paternal warmth and less maternal reward of coping behaviour toward their anxious child compared to parents of nonclinic children. Parent–child interactions with the anxious child were similar to parent–child interactions with the nonsymptomatic sibling, with the exception of fathers who exhibited more control toward their anxious child. Parent–sibling interactions, however, also resembled the nonclinic parent–child interactions, with mothers of anxious children showing more control toward their nonsymptomatic child than mothers of nonclinic children. These findings suggest that the relationships of each parent and their anxious child may be influenced by how the parent and child interact with each other. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

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A comparative study of parent-child interactions in children with autism, children with Down syndrome and typically developing children

10.17760/d20283090 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Cameron

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Children With Down Syndrome ◽

Parent Child Interactions ◽

Parent Child

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Maternal Use of Decontextualized and Contextualized Talk: An In-Depth Investigation of Early Parent–Child Interactions in Down Syndrome

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2021_ajslp-20-00190 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Elizabeth Hilvert ◽

Emily Lorang ◽

Audra Sterling

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Free Play ◽

Book Reading ◽

Typical Development ◽

Early Language ◽

Future Directions ◽

Parent Child Interactions ◽

Early Parent ◽

Insight Into ◽

Parent Child

Purpose The goal of this study was to characterize and quantify maternal use of decontextualized and contextualized input during mother–child interactions including young children with Down syndrome (DS). Method Participants included 22 mother–child dyads with DS ( M age = 42.8 months) and 22 mother–child dyads with typical development ( M age = 44.0 months). Parent–child language samples were collected during free-play, book reading, and snack time, and coded for maternal decontextualized (i.e., pretend, explanatory, and narrative talk) and contextualized input (i.e., descriptions, conversation, praise, questions, and directives). Results Mothers of children with DS used a larger proportion of pretend talk compared to other types of decontextualized input and also used a larger proportion of questions, conversation, and descriptions compared to other types of contextualized language. Mothers of children with DS generally used a smaller proportion of decontextualized input compared to mothers of children with typical development, with the exception of pretend talk. Maternal decontextualized input was not related to children's age or language ability in DS. Conclusions Findings shed new light on the early language environments of children with DS, providing important insight into the ways that mothers of children with DS are incorporating decontextualized and contextualized talk into early mother–child conversations. Additional implications and future directions are discussed.

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