Descriptive and Experimental Analysis of Child-Caregiver Interactions that Promote Development of Young Children Exposed Prenatally to Drugs and Alcohol

This paper presents two studies of factors affecting developmental outcomes of young children exposed prenatally to drugs and ahohol. In Study One, descriptive analyses of 38 children and families indicated that, as a group, children scored lower on assessed cognitive and language development, that two rates of oral language and negative behavior by children were associated with these developmental areas, and that several child-caregiver interactions were associated with these differential rates of child behaviors. In Study Two, intervention targets were selected from Study One and manipulated in multiple-baseline fashion across two pairs of children. Results demonstrated increased rates of all identified ecobehavioral variables for three of four parents or other adult caregivers, with concomitant increases in rates of child language production during play activities.