Play and emotional availability in young children with Down syndrome

Abstract

This study investigates mother-child interaction and its associations with play in children with Down syndrome (DS). There is consensus that mother-child interaction during play represents an important determinant of typical children's play development. Concerning children with DS, few studies have investigated mother-child interaction in terms of the overall emotional quality of dyadic interaction and its effect on child play. A sample of 28 children with DS (M age = 3 years) took part in this study. In particular, we studied whether the presence of the mother in an interactional context affects the exploratory and symbolic play of children with DS and the interrelation between children's level of play and dyadic emotional availability. Children showed significantly more exploratory play during collaborative play with mothers than during solitary play. However, the maternal effect on child symbolic play was higher in children of highly sensitive mothers relative to children whose mothers showed lower sensitivity, the former displaying more symbolic play than the latter in collaborative play. Results offer some evidence that dyadic emotional availability and child play level are associated in children with DS, consistent with the hypothesis that dyadic interactions based on a healthy level of emotional involvement may lead to enhanced cognitive functioning.RESUMEN: El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la interacción madre-infante y sus asociaciones con el juego en el caso de lo niños con el síndrome de Down (SD). Hay consenso con respecto a que la interacción madre-infante durante el juego representa un importante determinante en cómo los niños típicos desarrollan su juego. Con respecto a niños con síndrome de Down, pocos estudios han investigado la interacción madre-infante -en términos de la calidad emocional en general de la interacción de la díada -y sus efectos en el juego del niño. En este estudio, participó un grupo muestra de 28 niños con síndrome de Down (M edad = 3 años). En particular, queríamos verificar si la presencia de la madre en un contexto interaccional afecta el juego exploratorio y simbólico del niño con síndrome de Down, así como la interrelación entre el nivel de juego del niño y la disponibilidad emocional de la díada. Los niños mostraron significativamente más juego exploratorio durante la colaboración en el juego con madres que durante los momentos de juego solitario. Sin embargo, el efecto maternal sobre el juego simbólico del niño fue mayor en aquellos niños cuyas madres eran altamente sensibles, con relación a los niños cuyas madres mostraron más baja sensibilidad; aquéllos mostraron más juego simbólico queéstos durante las sesiones de juego colaborativo. Los resultados ofrecen alguna evidencia de que la disponibilidad emocional de la díada y el nivel de juego del niño están asociados en los casos de niños con síndrome de Down, consistente con la hipótesis de que las interacciones díadicas basadas en un saludable nivel de involucramiento emocional pudieran llevar a un...

Mother–Child and Father–Child Emotional Availability in Families of Children with Down Syndrome

“…Healthy parent-child interaction is as essential to the early development of children with special needs as it is for children undergoing typical development (Fogel, 1993;Greenspan, 1997;Harris, Kasari, & Sigman, 1996;Marfo, Cynthia, Dedrick, & Barbour, 1998;Marcheschi, Millepiedi, & Bargagna, 1990;Pino, 2000;Sander, 2000;Sroufe, 2000;Venuti, de Falco, Giusti, & Bornstein, 2008). Through their caregiving, parents supply their children with the experiences they need for both physical and psychological growth (Bornstein, 2002(Bornstein, , 2003Brinker, Seifer, & Sameroff, 1994).…”

“…However, the parentchild relationship is not unidirectional, with only parents affecting their children. It is, rather, a fluid two-way exchange where signals and behaviors from both partners constantly affect each other in bidirectional transaction (Bornstein, 2003(Bornstein, , 2008Sander, 2000;Stern, 1985;Trevarthen & Aitken, 2001;Van Egeren, Barratt, & Roach, 2001;Venuti et al, 2008).…”

“…Contemporary opinion is that positive emotional sharing is an indispensable frame to effective caregiving of children with a developmental disability. At the same time, it is recognized that specific cognitive and/or motor impairments may short-circuit the child's ability to understand and exchange emotions (Greenspan, 1997;Trevarthen & Aitken, 2001;Venuti et al, 2008).…”

Maternal and infant behavior and context associations with mutual emotion availability

“…Maternal sensitivity also is significantly related to knowledge of child development and childrearing, r(72) = .37, p ≤.001. EA has been linked to a host of positive child characteristics and outcomes, including independence, social responsibility, low aggressiveness, self-confidence, high self-esteem, and behavioral adjustment in the socioemotional sphere as well as school readiness, language, and play in the cognitive sphere (Biringen, Skillern, Mone, & Pianta, 2005;Maccoby & Martin, 1983;Pettit & Bates, 1989;Pressman, Pipp-Siegel, Yoshinaga-Itano, Kubicek, & Emde, 2000;Venuti, de Falco, Giusti, & Bornstein, 2008).…”

Peningkatan Interaksi Ibu dan Anak Retardasi Mental melalui Pelatihan Bermain Pura-Pura

“…Kepekaan ibu dalam memberikan rangsang emosi dan sosial kepada anak retardasi mental diawal kehidupan merupakan pondasi bagi ibu untuk memberikan kualitas nilai rangsang kepada anak (Crawley & Spiker, 1983), sehingga terjalin interaksi positif antara ibu dan anak retardasi mental (Venuti, Falco, Giusti, & Bornstein, 2008). Faktor lain yang dapat memengaruhi interaksi ibu dan anak retardasi mental adalah kondisi emosi ibu.…”