An interactive taxonomy of mothers and children during storybook interactions

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the social construction of interactions between mothers and children with a variety of development al disabilities during storybook interactions. The study used interpretive methods to describe the participation of 20 preschool children and mothers in storybook interactions in terms of their interactive and communicative p articipation. Data were collected via home videotapes of mothers and childr en engaged in storybook interactions with novel (unfamiliar) storybooks for 15- to 30-minute interaction samples. Mothers were also interviewed concer ning their beliefs and practices concerning early communication and literac y. Findings yielded an emerging interpretive taxonomy for observing and con ceptualizing the social milieu of adults and children during storybook inte ractions that may be useful for enhancing communication and emergent litera cy learning. The taxonomy may also be useful clinically to help parents and clinicians develop interaction styles that facilitate interaction and comm unication in emergent literacy contexts.