ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the types of communicative interactions that take place between the mothers and, in a few instances, other caregivers, and their infants over the first 2 1/2 or 3 years of life. The possible role of these interactions on the children’s language development is also discussed. We begin by briefly discussing what the literature has said about the role of this interaction, and the possible importance of some very recent findings about mothers’ speech during Year 1. We then discuss our findings and indicate what we think is important about them in terms of understanding the effect of communicative interaction on language development. We conclude by discussing how what we found might be translated into intervention suggestions.
