Infant and Maternal Reciprocity as Expressed Through Sensory Reactivity and Responsiveness

Abstract

Date Presented 4/21/2018

This retrospective study explored the bidirectionality of reciprocity in infants and mothers, revealing changes occurring over 6 months in the domain of sensory processing and sensory reactivity. The retrospective analysis creates a novel process of assessing development through the lens of reciprocity.

Primary Author and Speaker: Bryan Gee

Additional Authors and Speakers: Hannah Golden, Ashley Geist, Aubrey Riley, Kelly Thompson

Contributing Authors: Nancy Devine, Nicki Aubuchon-Endsley, Michele Brumley, Heather Ramsdell-Hudock

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Reciprocity is mutual engagement between infant and caregiver involving bidirectional symmetry in actions and psychological states (Apicella et al., 2013). Decades of research support robust reciprocal relationships between caregiver and infant behavior and outcomes. However, more research is needed to examine complex bidirectional associations in infant–caregiver engagements with regard to multiple interactive domains of infant behavior (Clearfield et al., 2008; Iverson, 2010).

Findings from a broader study looking at maternal–infant reciprocity with motor, co-occupation, emotional reciprocity, and language suggested that developmental trajectories could be tracked through behavioral observation and coding and aligned with criterion-referenced assessments (Swann et al., 2016). The purpose of this study was to identify and track frequency and duration of infant–maternal bidirectional reciprocity-related behaviors for the categories of sensory reactivity and responsiveness via video analysis of infant–maternal interactions.

METHOD: This descriptive retrospective analysis study was conducted with 16 infant–mother dyads. Using a play lab at a university in a rural portion of the United States, mothers and their infants were observed and audio and video recorded as they interacted in the lab for 1 hr at a time when the infants were aged 8, 12, and 16 mo. Data analysis occurred across the reciprocity collaborative team (researchers and research assistants) process; team members were experimental psychology, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology professionals.

Using Datavyu (Databrary, New York), we coded infant–maternal interactions and behaviors during the middle 20 min of each session using coding schemes developed in experimental and clinical psychology and occupational therapy. Behaviors, movements, interactions, and so forth were coded, tracking duration and frequency of behaviors related to sensory reactivity and responsiveness.

RESULTS: Across the 16 maternal–infant dyads, the maternal caregivers provided stimuli toward their infants 55%–62% of the observed time. Regarding the number of bouts of stimuli initiated by caregivers, auditory stimuli were the highest and vestibular stimuli were the lowest. Of the >500 bouts of stimuli across the 16 cases, only two resulted in a negative verbal response from the child.

CONCLUSION: Tracking the frequency and duration of subconstructs related to typical infant–maternal bidirectional reciprocity provides a novel representation of how sensory reactivity and responsiveness were represented over a small window of time. Maternal caregivers in this sample provided rich tactile and auditory sensory stimuli to their infants aged 8, 12, and 16 mo with minimal stimuli that included movement.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Identifying and comparing developmental trajectories that are observable and unobservable across several months may aid in recognizing optimum timing of evaluation and intervention when applied to infants and toddlers at risk for or identified as having developmental disabilities.

References

Apicella, F., Chericoni, N., Costanzo, V., Baldini, S., Billeci, L., Cohen, D., & Muratori, F. (2013). Reciprocity in interaction: A window on the first year of life in autism. Autism Research and Treatment, 2013, 705895. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/705895

Clearfield, M. W., Osborne, C. N., & Mullen, M. (2008). Learning by looking: Infants’ social looking behavior across the transition from crawling to walking. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 100, 297–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.03.005

Iverson, J. M. (2010). Developing language in a developing body: The relationship between motor development and language development. Journal of Child Language, 37, 229–261. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000909990432

Swann, H., Hambleton, J., Aubuchon-Endsley, N. L., Brumley, M. R., Gee, B., Ramsdell-Hudock, H., & Devine, N. (2016, April). The RECIPROCITY Project: The influence of infant–caregiver interactions on offspring developmental trajectories. Poster presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Convention, Long Beach, CA.