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Purpose: Joint attention predicts later language in Down syndrome (DS) and autism. The co-occurrence of autism in children with DS is 6%-19%, which is higher than in the general population. However, little is known about how co-occurring autism in DS impacts the development of joint attention. This study compared mother-child and father-child interactions in families of children with DS. Our purpose was to investigate differences in caregiver joint-attention bids and whether caregiver and child joint attention were associated with autistic traits and receptive language in children with DS., Method: Fifteen children with DS ( M age = 39.67 months) and their biological caregivers participated in the current study. We collected mother-child and father-child interactions in participant's homes. Using Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests, we examined if there were differences in mothers' and fathers' joint attention bids and if children responded differently to their bids. We used Spearman correlations to examine the associations between child autistic traits, receptive language, and caregiver and child joint attention., Results: We found that mothers initiated more joint-attention bids than fathers but did not find differences in child responsiveness or initiations based on communication partner. Mothers used more bids when children had more autistic traits. Child autistic traits were negatively correlated with child responsiveness to father joint-attention bids. Children with more autistic traits produced fewer joint-attention bids with both caregivers., Conclusions: Findings suggest mothers and fathers may use differing approaches to support their child's language development. Regardless of communication partner, children with more autistic traits engaged in fewer instances of joint attention.

Purpose: Dyadic caregiver-child interactions are commonly used to examine children's language learning environments. However, children frequently interact with multiple caregivers and/or siblings if they come from homes with multiple caregivers and siblings. Thus, we examined if and how caregiver opportunities to respond (OTRs) varied when sampled across three interaction configurations., Method: Twelve children with Down syndrome ( M age = 40.82 months) and their biological parents participated in the current study. We collected separate mother-child and father-child dyadic interactions and one family choice interaction (i.e., both caregivers present and occasionally siblings) in families' homes. We analyzed if differences in the caregiver's OTR frequency and type-explicit and implicit-existed among dyadic and family choice configurations., Results: We found that, during family choice interactions, children were exposed to fewer OTRs when combining the total number of father and mother OTRs compared to dyadic caregiver-child interactions. This effect was large for explicit OTRs (mother-dyadic vs. combined family choice: g = -1.99, confidence interval [CI] [-3.00, -1.00]; father-dyadic vs. combined family choice: g = -0.84, CI [-1.84, -0.11]). For implicit OTRs, effects were small for mother-dyadic versus combined family choice ( g = -0.34, CI [-1.17, 0.48]) and negligible when comparing father-dyadic with combined family choice ( g = -0.08, CI [-0.90, 0.73])., Conclusion: Our preliminary findings highlight the need for a more nuanced understanding of children's language learning environments to better understand how caregivers support their children's language development., Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25579905.

Purpose The goal of this study was to characterize and quantify maternal use of decontextualized and contextualized input during mother-child interactions including young children with Down syndrome (DS). Method Participants included 22 mother-child dyads with DS ( M age = 42.8 months) and 22 mother-child dyads with typical development ( M age = 44.0 months). Parent-child language samples were collected during free-play, book reading, and snack time, and coded for maternal decontextualized (i.e., pretend, explanatory, and narrative talk) and contextualized input (i.e., descriptions, conversation, praise, questions, and directives). Results Mothers of children with DS used a larger proportion of pretend talk compared to other types of decontextualized input and also used a larger proportion of questions, conversation, and descriptions compared to other types of contextualized language. Mothers of children with DS generally used a smaller proportion of decontextualized input compared to mothers of children with typical development, with the exception of pretend talk. Maternal decontextualized input was not related to children's age or language ability in DS. Conclusions Findings shed new light on the early language environments of children with DS, providing important insight into the ways that mothers of children with DS are incorporating decontextualized and contextualized talk into early mother-child conversations. Additional implications and future directions are discussed.

Purpose This study investigated maternal and paternal command use and child compliance in children with Down syndrome during mother-child and father-child free-play interactions. We also examined child compliance to direct versus indirect commands, and the relationships between maternal command use, paternal command use, child compliance, and child speech and language abilities. Method Fifteen families including a mother, father, and child with Down syndrome participated. Mother-child and father-child dyads participated in free-play interactions. We coded overall parent command use, command type (direct or indirect), and child compliance with the commands. Child language abilities were measured using a standardized assessment as well as during free-play. Results Mothers and fathers of children with Down syndrome used a similar number of commands, and children complied similarly across interactions. Children were more likely to comply with direct versus indirect commands. Parent command use was related to child language abilities in different ways for mothers and fathers. Child compliance was not related to receptive or expressive language abilities. Conclusions Mothers and fathers of children with Down syndrome use commands in similar ways but may base their command use on different child factors. Using direct commands with children with Down syndrome may be beneficial when increasing compliance during early interactions.

Purpose Communication interactions between parents and children during shared book reading impact a child's development of both language and literacy skills. This study examined maternal language input and child expressive communication during a shared book reading activity in children with Down syndrome (DS) and children with typical development (TD). Additionally, children's receptive language was examined to understand the relationship between maternal language input and child receptive language ability. Method Participants included 22 children with DS and 22 children with TD between 22 and 63 months of age and their mothers. Each mother-child dyad participated in a 7-min naturalistic shared book reading activity. Results Compared to mothers of children with TD, mothers of children with DS used significantly more utterances with less grammatical complexity, but a similar range of vocabulary diversity. Mothers of children with DS used more questions, descriptions, gestures, and labels, whereas mothers of children with TD used nearly half of their utterances to read directly from books. Children with DS communicated at a similar frequency compared to their peers with TD; however, they produced significantly fewer spoken words. Conclusions This study reveals important differences between early shared book reading interactions and provides implications for future research targeting parent-coached intervention strategies that may enhance children's learning during shared book reading by providing access to expressive language and print instruction.

Purpose: This study compared gesture use in young children with Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD) as well as how mothers respond to child gestures based on child age and diagnosis., Method: Twenty-two mother-child dyads with DS and 22 mother-child dyads with TD participated. The child participants were between 22 and 63 months and were matched on chronological age. We coded child gesture use and whether mothers recoded child gestures (i.e., provided a verbal translation) during naturalistic interactions., Results: The children with DS used more gestures than peers with TD. After controlling for expressive language ability, the two groups were not significantly different on child gesture use. Regardless of child diagnosis, mothers recoded approximately the same percentage of child gestures. There was a significant interaction between child diagnosis and child age when predicting the percentage of maternal gesture recodes; mothers of children with DS did not demonstrate differences in the percentage of maternal gesture recodes based on child age, but there was a negative relationship between the percentage of maternal gesture recodes and child age for the children with TD., Conclusions: Young children with DS gesture more than chronological age-matched children with TD, therefore providing numerous opportunities for caregivers to recode child gestures and support language development. Early intervention should focus on increasing parent responsiveness to child gestures earlier in life in order to provide additional word-learning opportunities for children with DS.