Maternal Interrogatives during Discourse with Language Learning Normal and Down's Syndrome Children: A Preliminary Clinical Taxonomy

A taxonomy was developed which designated mothers’ interrogative strategies as either facilitating or fragmenting in discourse with young children. The taxonomy was used to code the interrogatives used by eight mothers during play with their normal and Down's syndrome preschool children. Analyses at the discourse unit level demonstrated relationships between mothers’ rates of specific interrogative strategies and several conversational parameters. Use of the taxonomy in clinical intervention for language delayed populations is suggested.