Focusing on Parent-Child Interaction: The Bridge to ...

Focusing on Parent-Child Interaction: The Bridge to Developmentally Appropriate Practices Gerald Mahoney and Cordelia Robinson, Winthrop College, and Amy Powell, High/Scope Educational Research Foundation

This article contrasts the differences between the educational philosophy and procedures used in early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE). ECE emphasizes child-directed instruction that is based on children's choices and interests and is embedded in children's play. ECSE emphasizes teacher-directed activities that promote the acquisition of specific developmental skills. We propose that there is insufficient evidence to claim that the ECSE model is essential to the developmental functioning of children with disabilities. In contrast, recent research on parent-child interaction points to the potential benefits of ECE procedures. Findings from this research provide a rationale for examining how the ECE model can be adapted to meet the needs of children with disabilities.

As the field of early childhood special education (ECSE) moves toward full inclusion of children with disabilities into early childhood settings, professionals involved in this endeavor are confronted with the task of reconciling ECSE practices with early childhood education (ECE) practices. In a recent article on mainstreaming preschoolaged children with special needs, Odom and McEvoy (1990) observed that one of the major barriers to the general acceptance of inclusion is the contrast between the philosophies and theoretical orientations underlying early childhood education and early childhood special education. In this article we will show how research on the interactions between parents and children with disabilities lends promise to the

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potential benefits of the educational philosophy and practices emphasized in early childhood education. The pattern of findings from these studies provides a strong foundation for believing that the developmental capabilities and needs of children with disabilities can be addressed effectively within the framework of the early childhood education model.

Characteristics of the ECE Model Contemporary models of early childhood education, which most recently are reflected in the viewpoints of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) regarding developmentally appropriate practices, are firmly grounded in the constructivist developmental theories of Jean Piaget (Bredekamp, 1991). According to Piagetian theory, early developmental growth results from children's voluntary or intentional actions on their environment. Piaget proposed that the evolution of cognitive schemata and the emergence of new developmental behaviors derive mostly from the insights and discoveries that children gain from exploring their perceptual world, practicing current perceptual and motor behaviors, and experimenting in the use of these behaviors to perform new functions. Mastery of developmental tasks does not simply result from children being exposed to optimal environmental stimulation. Rather, the key ingredient is the quality and frequency of interactions that children have with the objects and people in their experiential world. Through the initiation of active learning behaviors such as exploration, manipulation, persistence, and problem solving, children develop an insight to and understanding of their world. This enables children to become more proficient in the use of their existing behaviors and motivates them to acquire more efficient means for accomplishing their goals. Developmentally appropriate practices emphasize educational procedures and activities in which teachers encourage children to be actively engaged in their environment and respond to and support childinitiated activities (Bredekamp, 1991). These practices are based on the assertion that specific developmental and preacademic skills can be acquired and will be more generalizable if learned in the course of child-initiated activities. Developmentally appropriate practices maximize children's opportunities to make choices, value children's interests, and emphasize play

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and enjoyment. Developmentally appropriate practices deemphasize procedures that direct children to conform to teacher-determined instructional activities and routines. They are based on the assumption that the opportunities needed for learning and development come primarily from children's active engagement and participation in their environment (Bredekamp, 1991).

Characteristics of the ECSE Model As Odom and McEvoy (1990) observed, Early Childhood Special Education has followed the general model of special education and tends to be more didactic in nature (Peterson, 1987). Such programs often incorporate the behavioral theories of Watson, Thorndike, Skinner and Pavlov, the educational psychology of mastery learning, and the message from the teacher effectiveness literature that time in direct instruction will be directly related to child progress (See Brophy, 1979; Rosenshine & Berliner, 1978). The implicit assumption within these programs is that the disability of the child prevents him or her from taking advantage of the typical environmental experiences that promote normal child development. . . . ECSE programs have been more teacher directed, have included the development of specific and more individualized goals and objectives for the child, and have designed learning activities to meet those specific objectives, (pp. 51-52)

Contrasting ECE and ECSE The educational theories underlying ECE and ECSE (a) have contrasting views regarding the process of development; (b) promote conflicting values with regard to the education of children; and (c) require teachers to engage in different types of interactions with children. In the following paragraphs we will briefly describe each of these differences. Process of Development. ECE conceptualizes development as being driven by the evolution of children's understanding of their world.

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In the process of interacting with the world, children discover or begin to recognize new relationships or new meanings. These discoveries are thought to be the factors that motivate children to acquire or perform higher level developmental skills. ECSE, on the other hand, views development as being driven by the acquisition of new skills. For example, children are thought to become more proficient communicators because they k n o w , or are able to produce, a larger corpus of words. Similarly, children are thought to be more capable of engaging in social interactions if they can produce the behaviors that more socially competent children possess. Increased understanding is generally thought to result from children becoming more proficient at various skills. Role of Children's Interests. ECE places high priority on supporting and encouraging children's interests and on accepting children's behavior as legitimate and worthwhile. ECSE tends to ignore or disregard children's interests, particularly when the pursuit of these interests impedes children from becoming involved in teacher-selected developmental activities. Furthermore, the ECSE emphasis on extrinsic reinforcement encourages teachers to accept children's behavior and provide positive incentives only when children perform the behaviors required of them. Reinforcement theory discourages teachers from valuing behaviors that are incompatible with the objectives that have been established for children. Role of Adults. ECE encourages teachers to promote and support child-initiated activities and to refrain from being highly directive in their interactions with children. In contrast, ECSE is based on the notion that children need direction and guidance to perform desired developmental behaviors and activities. Accordingly, ECSE teachers are encouraged to be directive and structured in their interactions with children.

Implications of ECE/ECSE Philosophical Differences Differences in philosophical orientation have profound implications for integrating children with disabilities into regular preschool programs. Insofar as special education professionals believe that the


appropriate education of children with disabilities requires ECSE instructional procedures, at least two results are likely to occur. First, itinerant special education teachers and related service personnel may try to instruct special needs children in regular preschool settings using the ECSE model. Second, regular preschool teachers may be asked to implement procedures with special needs children that are based on the ECSE model. The conflicting philosophies of ECE and ECSE present a number of problems that may be counterproductive to effective inclusion of children with disabilities, particularly in preschool programs that adhere strongly to the recommended practices of NAEYC. If the early childhood program adheres to a developmentally appropriate practice model, efforts to incorporate ECSE practices for the children with disabilities will undermine the program structure. If the ECSE procedures are implemented, they are likely to be qualitatively different from the procedures used with other children in an ECE classroom. This might heighten the feelings that children with disabilities have of being different and isolated, and enhance perceptions by others that these children are different and deviant. It is incumbent upon the special education community to understand and acknowledge the differences between the ECE and ECSE models. We must recognize these as fundamentally philosophical and not simply strategic differences. It is possible that early childhood educators' opposition to the ECSE model, rather than their reluctance to include children with disabilities, is the primary barrier to full inclusion.

Resolutions to the ECE/ECSE Conflict The resolution to the ECE/ECSE conflict hinges on two issues. The first is to determine whether there is evidence that children with disabilities require the type of directed educational experiences typically provided in ECSE programs to appropriately meet their educational and developmental needs. If there is documented evidence supporting the necessity of this model, then appropriate integrated preschool experiences are clearly dependent on the willingness of ECE teachers to implement the ECSE model, at least among children with disabilities. The second is to determine whether there are any indications that alternative educational methods might be effective in attain-


ing the developmental and educational goals that are desired for children with disabilities. In particular, is there evidence that provides credibility for the belief that ECE instructional practices can have positive developmental benefits for children with disabilities? Examining the Necessity of the ECSE Model. A substantial body of research on instructional practices with preschool-age children with disabilities is highly supportive of the validity of the ECSE model. Numerous studies indicate causal relationships between ECSE instructional practices such as modeling, shaping, prompting, and reinforcement and the acquisition of key developmental and adaptive functioning milestones. Preschool-age children with a wide range of disabilities can successfully be taught a variety of cognitive, language, social, motor, and adaptive skills through the use of directed instructional procedures and extrinsic incentives such as praise and tangible reinforcers. Although there is little doubt that ECSE procedures facilitate the initial acquisition of developmental and functional skills, it is far less clear that these procedures enhance children's generalized use of these skills. During the past 20 years, numerous studies have been reported evaluating the efficacy of ECSE procedures on children's general developmental functioning. These studies indicate that almost all children with disabilities attain significant developmental growth through intervention (Bricker, Bailey, & Bruder, 1984; Simeonsson, Cooper, & Scheiner, 1982). Yet, in spite of the extraordinary accomplishments reported for some children (cf. Guralnick & Bennett, 1987), evidence that ECSE procedures accelerate development beyond expected rates of maturation is neither consistent nor convincing (Casto & Mastropieri, 1986; Dunst, 1986; Gibson & Fields, 1984). The methodological flaws of these studies preclude definitive conclusions regarding the ECSE model (Dunst, 1986; Farran, 1990). It is possible that the use of inappropriate and insensitive evaluation instruments has led to an underestimation of ECSE treatment effects. Nonetheless, at this time, there is no conclusive evidence that the procedures associated with the ECSE model are essential to promoting the developmental well-being of children with disabilities. Empirical Support for ECE Assumptions and Practices. Investigations of parent-child interaction are based on the assumption that the routine interactions that children have with parents and other caregivers are the primary influences on early development. During


the past 10 years a number of studies have been reported examining the kinds of guidance of support children with disabilities need to attain optimal levels of learning and development. Although this research is descriptive and correlational in nature, the pattern of findings is compatible with the philosophy and principles of developmentally appropriate practices. Studies of the effects of parent-child interaction on children with disabilities have addressed three questions that are relevant to the development of instructional practices. These are as follows: 1. How do parents impact the rate of development that children attain? 2. How is children's active participation influenced by the adult's style of interacting with them? 3. How do interventions that modify the interactive style of adults influence the children's development? Parental Influences on Development. At least four studies have been reported examining interactive influences on the development of children with disabilities. Mahoney, Finger, and Powell (1985) examined patterns of interaction between 60 mothers and children with mental retardation who were between 12 and 36 months of age. The behavioral style of these mothers was assessed across a number of global characteristics they displayed while playing with their children. These characteristics include responsiveness, enjoyment, sensitivity, stimulation, directiveness, and teaching. Results indicated that the children with the highest levels of developmental functioning had mothers who were rated as being highly responsive and child oriented. These mothers enjoyed playing with their children and were sensitive to their children's feelings and interests. They responded to and followed activities their children initiated, and they were effective at gaining their children's cooperation. Children with the lowest levels of developmental functioning had mothers whose interactional style was classified as directive and teaching oriented. These mothers structured much of their play around activities that would promote specific developmental skills and behaviors. They attempted to engage their children in activities that they had chosen, and they seldom followed or supported activities that their children had initiated. Brooks-Gunn and Lewis (1984) examined interactions among a sample of 111 dyads that included children with disabilities (Down


syndrome, cerebral palsy, developmental delay) ranging from 3 to 36 months of age. Mother-child play was rated using a discrete timesampling procedure. Results indicated that variability in children's mental age as measured by the Bayley Mental Development Scale (Bayley, 1969) was significantly related to maternal responsiveness to children's behavior. Children were more likely to have higher developmental scores the more frequently their mothers vocalized, looked, or smiled in a meaningful manner immediately following their children's behavior. This relationship between maternal responsiveness and children's development was unrelated to children's chronological age, handicapping condition, or type of behavior they produced. Bradley (1989) used an adaptive version of the HOME Inventory Scale (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984) to investigate parent-child interaction. The HOME Inventory Scale was administered to 261 caregivers during two separate home visits. All parents had children between 6 months and 12 years of age with a diagnosed disability. Parental responsiveness was assessed by rating the degree that caregivers responded to or facilitated their children's interaction during the home visit. For preschool-age children, correlations between parental responsiveness and developmental quotient scores were in the low to moderate range. However, for school-age children, correlations between parental responsiveness and intelligence quotients were much stronger. Mahoney (1989a, 1989b) investigated the relationship of maternal communication style to children's rate of communication development. The sample included the same 60 dyads described in Mahoney et al. (1985). Results indicated considerable variability in the manner that mothers communicated with their children. Mothers who communicated by responding to their children's nonverbal behavior as if it were a meaningful part of a conversation had children who both communicated frequently with their mothers and had relatively high expressive language age scores. Mothers who modeled and encouraged their children to use appropriate words or phrases tended to be less responsive to their children's nonverbal communication. The children of these mothers both communicated less often and had lower expressive language age scores than children of more communicatively responsive mothers. In general descriptive studies of parent-child interaction provide evidence that children with disabilities display higher levels of developmental functioning when their parents tend to use a style of interaction that (a) accepts and values the behaviors that children are able to do, (b) is highly responsive to their interests, and (c) provides them ample

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opportunity to exercise control over the activities in which they are involved. The interactive characteristics associated with higher levels of functioning among children with disabilities replicate reports from numerous investigations of parental interaction with normally developing children (Ainsworth & Bell, 1973; Beckwith & Cohen, 1989; Bornstein & Tamis-LeMonda, 1989; Bradley & Caldwell, 1982; Clarke-Stewart, 1973; Lewis &C Goldberg, 1969; Yarrow, Rubinstein, & Pedersen, 1975). Although the descriptive nature of these studies limits causal interpretations, it is nonetheless important to note that none of these studies indicate that children with disabilities achieve optimal rates of development when parents' interactive style reflects the directive and instructional characteristics associated with the ECSE model. To the contrary, the kinds of child-oriented relationships encouraged in ECE models are consistently associated with higher levels of communication and developmental growth. Effects of Style on Children's Engagement. Recently, a number of studies have been reported examining children's engagement in relationship to adult style of interaction. Findings from these studies indicate that children with disabilities are more actively engaged while interacting with adults who are more responsive and child oriented as compared to their interactions with adults who are directive and performance oriented. This relationship has been observed in studies of both parent-child and teacher-child interaction. Dedrick, Mahoney, and Dedrick (undated) examined the effects of maternal interactive style on the play and social interactions of 32 children with disabilities who ranged from 9 to 31 months of age. Two matched groups of mother-child dyads (directive-responsive) were established on the basis of their mothers' level of directiveness during a 15-minute videotape of mother-child play. Children's engagement was assessed while they played alone and with their mothers. The two groups of children showed no differences in their play maturity or level of engagement while playing alone. However, while playing with their mothers, children of directive mothers were 25% less actively engaged in play and displayed higher levels of passivity, crying, and fussing than children of responsive parents. Wolock (1990) examined the effects of teachers' style of interaction on the interactive engagement of preschool-age children with disabilities. Forty-nine children, all of whom were enrolled in special education classes, were observed in three situations: playing alone, playing with their teacher, and receiving individualized instruction from


their teacher. Children's level of engagement with their teachers was unrelated to their developmental status or level of engagement while playing alone. However, regression analyses indicated high degrees of association between children's level of participation and the teachers' style of interaction in both the play and instruction situations. Children were more likely to initiate play activities and communication when their teachers displayed a responsive, child-oriented style as compared to a directive, instructionally oriented style. Teachers' style of interaction was associated neither with the developmental level of children's play nor with the extent to which children complied with their teachers. Bressanutti and Mahoney (in press) examined the quality of children's compliance with their mothers' behavior requests. Subjects were 18 mother-infant dyads and 18 mother-Down syndrome infant dyads. Infants in the two groups were matched on developmental age (^DA = 17.5 months). For each dyad, 20 maternal requests were rated on their contingent relationship to children's current interests and the relative difficulty of the behavior being requested. Children's compliance immediately following each of these requests was examined as a function of these dimensions. In both groups, the contingency and difficulty of mothers' behavior requests were highly associated with the quality of children's compliance. Children were more likely to comply with requests that were contingently related to their current interests and at a relatively low level of difficulty. The constructivist theories underlying developmentally appropriate practices place great importance on children's active engagement and participation. The child-centered instructional procedures recommended by this model are assumed to encourage children's active participation in preschool activities. The results from studies examining interactive influences on engagement of children with disabilities are very consistent with these notions. Children with disabilities appear to be more engaged when involved in interactions that are child centered rather than adult directed, that are responsive to children's interests, and that are supportive of the behaviors that children are able to produce. Contrary to ECSE beliefs, these studies provide no evidence that adult-directed interactions encourage children to perform developmentally advanced behaviors or to sustain higher levels of engagement. Effects of Parental Style in Early Intervention. A number of intervention studies have also been reported that attempted to promote


children's developmental functioning by encouraging parents to adopt the responsive, child-oriented characteristics of interaction described above. Four of these studies are pertinent to this discussion. Mahoney and Powell (1988) reported the results from an intervention program that attempted to promote high levels of parental responsiveness and acceptance and low levels of parental directiveness. On a weekly basis parents were instructed to use the interactive strategies of turn taking and interactive match as means of monitoring their routine interactions with their children. They were instructed to support and encourage their children's active engagement in routine interactions, and were dissuaded from teaching specific developmental skills. A pre /post multivariate design was used to assess the effects of this program on a sample of 41 children ranging from 2 to 32 months of age. Children's disabilities included Down syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and developmental delays of unknown origin. After an average of 11 months of intervention, the relative rate of developmental change that children achieved was highly associated with the style of interaction their parents used at the end of intervention, but was unrelated to their parents' style of interaction or children's level of developmental functioning at the beginning of intervention. Children who made the greatest developmental gains as measured by the Bayley Scales of Mental Development (Bayley, 1969) had parents who were the most child oriented and responsive. The developmental gains achieved by these children were 48% greater than the gains made by children of parents who were more teaching oriented and directive (Mahoney & Powell, 1988). MacDonald (1989) developed the ECO communication intervention program, which focuses primarily on increasing parents' communicative responses to their children's communicative behavior. Parents were coached to use interactive strategies to help them become more sensitive and supportive of their children's communicative behavior, interact with their children in a manner that is matched to their children's current level of functioning, and sustain longer episodes of reciprocal interaction with their children. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the program with a sample of 25 parent-child dyads. Each of the children had at least a 1-year delay in language functioning and ranged in age from 23 to 64 months at the time of the first observation. Children's disabilities included Down syndrome, autism, severe mental retardation, language delay, hearing impairment, and spina bifida. Over a 6-month time period, mother-child dyads


received weekly instruction in the ECO model at a speech clinic. Videotapes of parent-child communication were rated by a panel of adult observers on a number of dimensions designed to categorize the quality of parent-child communication and children's communicative proficiency. MacDonald reported that there was little or no improvement in children's language and communicative functioning or in the adults' interactive style during a 1-month baseline period. However, there were highly significant treatment effects during the course of intervention. Adults became more communicatively responsive during interactions with their children. Children showed marked improvement in their language and communicative functioning. An additional assessment was conducted 1 month after treatment was completed. This indicated continued and significant progression in assessments of parent-child interaction and in children's communicative functioning. Rosenberg and Robinson (1985) reported an evaluation of 16 mothers and children with disabilities who participated in an intervention program consisting of individualized parent-child instruction. The children, aged 3 to 34 months, represented a range of disabilities with respect to both etiology and severity. Intervention focused on coaching parents to become more responsive to their children's interests and choices in activities. Ratings of parents' interactive skills increased significantly following training and increased still more at the follow-up point. Ratings of children's interests and engagement in interaction were significantly greater at follow-up. The apparent impact on children's interests and engagement was unrelated both to the severity of children's disability and to children's previous participation in early intervention. Thus, children's enhanced interactive engagement with their mothers appeared to follow from increases in mothers' use of a responsive, child-oriented interactive style. Greenberg, Calderon, and Kusche (1984) reported results of an intervention study that involved parents of infants with severe or profound deafness. Twelve experimental families received systematic and comprehensive weekly intervention in which they were trained to use a total communication approach that emphasized responsivity to the child's communication. The 12 comparison families did not receive systematic intervention because of their inability to attend this program. At the end of this project, the communication skills of parents in the experimental group were characterized as more positive and less directive and controlling than comparison parents. They appeared to be more in synchrony with and responsive to their children. Compared to the comparison children, children in the experimental group


were more advanced in receptive and expressive communication skills and in the expression of time concepts. The authors concluded that the experimental families demonstrated a more "natural and rich communication" style. In summary, the results from intervention programs that have modified patterns of parent-child interaction provide additional support for the tenets of developmentally appropriate practices. Evaluations of these projects indicate that children with disabilities achieve desirable developmental outcomes when their primary caregivers adopt a responsive, child-oriented style of interaction. These results suggest that the procedures associated with developmentally appropriate practices have the potential to effectively promote the cognitive, language, and social development of children with disabilities, as long as the implementation of these practices is commensurate with the interests and level of functioning of these children.

Reflections on Early Intervention Practice Underlying ECE practices is the fundamental belief in the central role of intrinsic motivation in children's attainment of early developmental skills and competencies. Developmentally appropriate practices are intended to enhance children's motivation to achieve by encouraging and supporting children's interests, maximizing their opportunities for success, and fostering their sense of control and esteem (Bredekamp, 1991). We believe that an interactive style that is predominantly responsive and child oriented and minimally directive and instructionally oriented is ideally suited to promoting those characteristics that motivational theorists have demonstrated to be critical to achievement striving (Atkinson, 1964; Weiner, 1980). The characteristics of parental responsiveness and directiveness appear to be benchmarks for a constellation of parenting qualities that reflect fundamentally different orientations to children's development (Martin, 1989). Responsive /child-oriented adults tend to be highly sensitive to children's interests and supportive of their current activities (Mahoney et al., 1985). They encourage children to pursue their interests, and they engage in activities that are highly salient to children at the moment. Responsive/child-oriented adults produce few requests for children to perform difficult behaviors (Mahoney, Fors, & Wood, 1990). Rather, they engage in activities that are matched


to children's developmental level (e.g., activities children are currently able to do). This increases the probability that children will respond successfully to their interactive bids (Bressanutti & Mahoney, in press). Responsive/child-oriented adults respond to children's initiations and allow them to lead the interaction. Children develop the sense that they can control their environment by having opportunities to exercise control such as they experience in these formative interactions with adults. Finally, responsive/child-oriented adults are highly accepting of children's behavior. Children are likely to develop feelings of competence and esteem through repetitive exposure to this type of experience. The field of early childhood special education has become firmly entrenched in the philosophy and methodology of behavioral psychology. However, alternative models have been applied successfully to other educational endeavors. We believe that the application of these models to the development of the curriculum and methodology for young children with disabilities may help us to develop exciting and productive programs. In particular, early childhood practices that emphasize the development of constructs related to intrinsic motivation, such as interest, curiosity, self-esteem, and choice making (Bredekamp, 1991), may be highly effective with these children. Moreover, the philosophical commitment of the ECE model to accepting individual children at their current level of ability may help us to develop a much-needed alternative to deficit-oriented special education practices. ECSE professionals must consider seriously how developmentally appropriate practices can be adapted to the capabilities and needs of children with disabilities. Our success in this endeavor will not only eliminate some unnecessary barriers to inclusion, but, perhaps more important, may help us discover more effective means of enhancing the development of these children.

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