Parents’ Interactions with their Developmentally Disabled or At-Risk Infants: A Focus for Intervention

Half a century ago, George Herbert Mead (1934) put forward the persuasive view that much of children’s behaviour can be understood by analysing their interaction patterns with their primary caregivers which, in turn, reflect caregivers’ perceptions of their children. It is only in the last decade or so that the validity of this view of develop ment has come under close scrutiny, both with respect to normal children and to those who are disabled or at-risk.