No abstract

Dialogic interaction between mothers and their age-matched or linguistically matched hearing and hearing-impaired children was investigated. The study employed the cognitively based System of dialogic analysis proposed by Blank and Franklin (1980). The System assesses each participant both as initiator and responder, and judges each participant's initiations for cognitive complexity and summoning power, as well as the appropriateness of participants' responses. Four samples of eight mother–child dyads were investigated, including hearing and hearing-impaired 2-year-olds and 5-year-olds. Results revealed differences between hearing and hearing-impaired dyads along most dimensions, including the number and form of initiations employed, the complexity levels of initiations, and appropriateness of the child's responses, as well as measures of the degree of dialogic exchange that took place in the mother–child dyads.