A battery of 17 rating items were applied to video records of typically-developing toddlers and young children with autism and Down syndrome interacting with their parents during the Communication Play Protocol. This battery provided a reliable and broad view of the joint engagement triad of child, partner, and shared topic. Ratings of the child’s joint engagement correlated very strongly with state coding of joint engagement and replicated the findings that coordinated joint engagement was less likely in children with autism and symbol-infused joint engagement was less likely in children with Down syndrome. Ratings of other child actions, of parent contributions, and of shared topics and communicative dynamics also documented pervasive variations related to diagnosis, language facility, and communicative context.

Forty-two children participated in a longitudinal study that investigated the relationship between their joint engagement experience when toddlers and their development of theory of mind when preschoolers. Controlling for language comprehension at 30-months, higher preschool false belief scores were associated with more time in coordinated joint engagement earlier (18–21 mo, β = .34) and in symbol-infused joint engagement later (27–30 mo, β = .35) in toddlerhood. Findings suggest that the early foundation of theory of mind development is laid as toddlers attend to both social-emotional and symbolic aspects of shared events.

This research traces the development of symbol-infused joint engagement during mother-child interactions into the preschool years. Forty-nine children, who had been previously observed as toddlers (Adamson, Bakeman, & Deckner, 2004), were systematically observed during interactions with their mothers at ages 3½, 4½, and 5½ during activities related to the past and future, internal states, and graphic systems. Although the amount of symbol-infused joint engagement reached a ceiling by 3½, its focus continued to became more complex and its form more balanced. Individual differences in children's symbol-infused joint engagement were stable across four years. These findings highlight both how joint engagement is transformed as conversational skills develop and how it remains rooted in earlier interactions and supported by caregiver's actions.A broad range of studies of early development has focused on how young children share attention to objects and events with a social partner. This body of literature stands on the strong theoretical foundation of Vygotsky's (1978) and Werner and Kaplan's (1963) seminal social cultural developmental theories and their several contemporary variations (e.g., Nelson, 2008;Rogoff, 1990;Tomasello, 2003). Recently, much of this work has coalesced around the concept of joint attention (see, e.g., Eilan, Hoerl. McCormack, & Roessler, 2005; Moore & Dunhanm, 1995;Seemann, 2011) to produce ample documentation of the emergence of specific joint attention behaviors and skills and their use within episodes of joint engagement. This literature also documents the role of joint activities in fostering cognitive, social cognitive, and linguistic accomplishments both concurrently and considerably later in both typically and atypically developing young children.To date, descriptions of joint attention have been largely confined to the first three years when behaviors such as pointing, skills such as initiating joint attention and responding to joint attention bids, and behavioral states such as coordinated and supported joint engagement have been defined and systematically documented (for brief reviews, see Adamson & Dimitrova, in press;Mundy & Newell, 2007). We designed the present study to explore how joint engagement during parent-child interactions continues to develop into the preschool years, after children begin to routinely infuse symbols into episodes of joint Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Lauren B. Adamson Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA. ladamson@gsu.edu. The authors were all affiliated with the Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. Deborah F. Deckner is now at Clayton State University, Morrow, GA. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript engagement. Our intent was to gain a longer view of developmental changes in the form and focus of joint engagement, one that includes not only the crucial entrance into language but also the e...

In this longitudinal study, 52 typically developing preschoolers engaged in a hiding game with their mothers when children were 42-, 54-, and 66-months old. Children's understanding of mind, positive affect, and engagement with the task were rated, and mothers' utterances were coded for role and content. Analyses confirmed that some facets of children's understanding of mind developed sequentially; specifically, they expressed an understanding of knowledge access before an understanding of deception and false beliefs, and expressed an understanding of deception before an understanding of false beliefs. Children's understanding of mind increased across visits and positively correlated with false belief task performance. Results suggest that mothers may tailor the content of their utterances to the child's growing expertise, but the role of mothers' utterances did not change. Observing preschoolers engaged in a playful hiding game revealed that children's understanding of mind not only increased with age but also developed sequentially.

<p>My intention in undertaking this research was to examine young people’s experiences of living with their father following parental separation where their father has been violent to their mother. To date there is little knowledge of children’s post-separation experiences of fathering or of the parenting abilities of partner abusive men.  This study takes a feminist approach and is informed by scholarship on family issues, childhood studies and the sociology of the child. The study was guided by hermeneutic phenomenology and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Twenty young people aged 18 to 26 took part in the study and face to face interviews were carried out over a one year period.  The findings revealed that some fathers were overly punitive in their parenting style with a number of fathers continuing to be physically and/or emotionally abusive to their children. Authoritarian or permissive parenting practices were also identified and a number of fathers were shown to be neglectful, making little effort to bond with their children or provide quality care. In cases where fathers were unable to accept the break-up and move on this was also shown to have an adverse effect on their ability to parent effectively including an inability to co-operate with children’s mothers.  In contrast, the majority of mothers were shown to be central to children’s lives undertaking most of the caring responsibilities. Mothers also recognised children’s changing needs as they grew older, encouraged autonomy, and contributed to children’s social development and maturity by trusting their judgement. However, this was not necessarily a protective factor against difficulties that participants have experienced as young adults.  A time-share or full-time arrangement was revealed as being the most problematic for children although weekend contact could also pose a risk where pre-separation violence towards children had been severe.  The study concluded that a safe outcome for children will require a shift away from a father’s right to contact, emphasising instead children’s right to a life free from abuse.</p>