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.