Do It Together: Joint Book Reading Behaviors of Parent and Children with and without a Developmental Language Disorder

Abstract

Interactive joint book reading (JBR) is an important activity to promote language development of preschoolers. This could be even more important for preschoolers with a Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Therefore, the current study examined whether parents of preschoolers with DLD use the same JBR behaviors as parents of preschoolers without DLD and whether parent self-assessment relates to the researchers’ observations. A group of parent-child dyads with DLD and a group without DLD were videotaped during JBR, and parent and child behaviors were coded according to an observation tool. Parents filled out a questionnaire about the same observed JBR behaviors. No differences were found in JBR behaviors between the two groups according to both the researchers’ observations and self-assessment. The measurements of the parent JBR behaviors highly correlated between the researchers’ observations and parent self-assessment for both groups. This report can be used to develop new interventions to promote interactive JBR behaviors for parents of children with DLD.