Reviewed literature on the influence of a speaker's expressive behavior on the behavioral response of another person in adult-adult and infant-adult dyads. Mutual influence in expressive behaviors was demonstrated to be a pervasive feature of social interaction found across a variety of behaviors and across developmental time. (Author/DB)

Three children with language impairment (ages 38 to 41 months) and their mothers participated in a study evaluating a storybook reading process for facilitating mother-child interactions. The complete reading cycle (CRC) involved: (1) attentional vocative, (2) query, (3) response, and (4) feedback. Results indicated changes in mothers' storybook…

Communication cannot and should not be studied as the simple, isolated phenomenon known as language, because language occurs in a cultural context and its messages are shaped by nonverbal elements. The basic structure of total communication includes language, paralanguage (vocal-nonverbal communication), and kinesics (communication through…