title: Interrelations between communicative behaviors at the outset of speech: parents as observers.
abstract: The Hebrew Parent Questionnaire for Communication and Early Language (HPQ-CEL) was administered by 154 parents of Hebrew-speaking toddlers aged 1 ; 0 to 1 ; 3 (77 boys, 77 girls). The Questionnaire guided parents in observing and rating their toddlers in six contexts at home. The study aimed to identify inter-correlations between toddlers' non-linguistic behaviors that co-occur during the transition to speech. Seven communicative behaviors were extracted from the questionnaire data: Crying, Vocalizations, Collaboration with Adults, Pointing, Words, Joint Engagement in a Peek-a-Boo Game, and Triadic Interaction in Book Reading. Collaboration with Adults and Triadic Interaction in Book Reading yielded more significant correlations than other prelinguistic behaviors. Participation in social games and book-reading activities was associated with the toddlers' number of words at the period studied.
authors.affiliation: Constantiner School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel. dromi@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dromi
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaidman-Zait
mesh_terms: D002663:Child Language; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D007557:Israel; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012424:Rural Population; D013060:Speech; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D014825:Vocabulary