Relative treatment effects of two prelinguistic communication interventions on language development in toddlers with developmental delays vary by maternal characteristics

This paper tests whether two prelinguistic communication interventions have a differential effect on productive and receptive language development 6 a nd 12 months after the end of treatment. We predicted that treatment effect s on language development would vary as a Function of pretreatment maternal responsivity or amount of mothers' formal education. Fifty-eight prelingui stic children with developmental delays and their mothers participated in t he study Children were randomly assigned to one of two staff-implemented tr eatments that were designed to increase intentional communication ability R esults confirmed the prediction that treatment effects on children's recept ive and expressive language 6 and 12 months after the end of interventions vary as a function of pretreatment maternal responsivity and education leve l.