Story-related discourse by parent–child dyads: A comparison of typically developing children and children with language impairments

The engagement of two groups of parents and preschoolers while sharing a wordless picture book and an interactive e-book are described, specifically comparing children with typically developing language (TD) versus children with language impairments (LI). Parent–child dyads were video recorded in a laboratory (TD group, n = 10 ) or at a clinical site (LI group, n = 10 ) while sharing a wordless picture book (WL condition) and an e-book (EB condition). Our assessment focused on the areas of (1) child persistence and (2) child verbal engagement (length of turns, verbal responses to parental prompts, gestural responses). The LI group spent more time with the WL book than the TD group, which was unexpected due to prior reports of poor engagement with print books by LI children; therefore we speculate that children with LI engage with books to the extent that the language demands of the book and the interaction are adapted to the child’s linguistic capabilities. The LI and TD groups showed similar levels of nonverbal engagement with the EB. Parents in the EB condition behaved differently: parents of TD children coordinated their talk with their child’s actions and perceptions; parents of LI children increased the number of questions and demands for responses markedly, whereas their children reduced the proportion of verbal responses significantly in comparison with the WL condition. Further research is required to develop guidelines for effective sharing of e-books with children with LI.