“…Thus, parent-child interactions may provide a crucial foundation for children’s language production. Among parenting factors that have been associated with children’s language production are joint attention (Baldwin, 1995; Charman et al, 2000) and mothers’ sensitivity/responsiveness (Landry, Smith, Swank, Assel, & Vellet, 2001; Leigh, Nievar, & Nathans, 2011; Paavola, Kemppinen, Kumpulainen, Moilanen, & Ebeling, 2006). Sensitivity, which includes a range of mothers’ affective and behavioral characteristics (i.e., warmth, contingent responsiveness to the child’s needs, wants and emotions), has been consistently associated with children’s higher linguistic abilities across time (Baumwell, Tamis-LeMonda, & Bornstein, 1997; Karrass & Braungart-Rieker, 2003; Paavola et al, 2006; Tamis-Lemonda, Bornstein, & Baumwell, 2001).…”