Mothers' Perceptions of Interactions with Babies with and without Disabilities in Different Cultures
Web site: none
Many approaches to early intervention have as an important focus the interactions between parents and children. However, whereas views of appropriate parent-child interaction may vary significantly across cultures, most approaches to early intervention are based on research with individuals of Western European descent. The purpose of this research project is to learn more about how mothers from different cultural backgrounds perceive their interactions with their babies, and whether perceptions vary depending on whether their babies have a disability. Thus far, researchers have conducted interviews with parents from the United States who are Caucasian and African American. The primary themes examined thus far have been the types of benefits that parents perceive to derive from parent-child interaction and the ways in which they perceive themselves contributing to those benefits during the course of the interaction.
