Associations between responsive parental behaviours in infancy and toddlerhood, and language outcomes at age 7 years in a population-based sample.

What is already known on this subject There is extensive evidence consistently demonstrating the important contribution of aspects of parent-child interaction, specifically responsive parental behaviours, to children's language development. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge Understanding the cumulative benefit of responsive parent-child interactions across the very early years may help to inform preventive interventions and service delivery models for supporting young children's language development. This study demonstrates in a large, population-based cohort the contribution of consistency of responsive parental behaviours during infancy and toddlerhood to school-age language outcomes, accounting for other child, family and environmental factors. Capturing regular parent behaviours via self-report during the early years may be a more efficient and less costly method than parent-child interaction observations to monitor the home language-learning environment during routine developmental checks. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Findings support the need for surveillance of children and families in the early years, ensuring that intervention occurs when families need it most, that is, support is responsive to changing needs and that nuanced advice and support strategies are provided to activate positive developmental cascades. Capturing both parent behaviours and child language may assist clinicians to identify those families who may benefit from parent-child interaction intervention.