Maternal Attention Directing Strategies and Infants'Response to Toys: Effects of Downs Syndrome and Prematurity

The project studied videotaped unstructured play sessions between 16 Downs Syndrome (DS) infants (aged 6 months and 12 months) and their mothers, to investigate the relationship between maternal attention-directing strategies and the infants' response to toys. A comparison group consisted of 16 high-risk premature infants matched by mental and motor age. At 6 months, the DS infants spent more time fixating on their mothers' faces than on toys. The premature infants showed a greater ability to examine more toys with their mothers' help than alone, while the DS infants did not. The study concluded that, to increase DS infants' manipulation of toys, mothers should place toys in the infants' hands rather than just demonstrate, and should maintain the infants' attention to a toy rather than redirect their attention. (Author/JDD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.