Conversational roles of children with developmental delays and their mothers in natural and semi-structured situations

The pragmatic characteristics of conversations between mothers and their preschool children with developmental delays were examined in both naturally occurring and researcher-introduced semi-structured situations in the home, using a spot observation time-sampling technique. There were significant differences between natural and semi-structured situations in the proportions of conversational turns taken and in the pragmatic functions of utterances of mother and children with developmental delays. The type of activity occurring within the structured and natural situations also appeared to influence the nature of the interaction. Results were discussed in terms of the differential goals and interpretations of their conversational roles that mothers of children with developmental delays hold in researcher-introduced versus everyday interaction.