Parent-Child Interaction—The Foundation for Family-Centered Early Intervention Practice: A Response to Baird and Peterson Gerald Mahoney and C. Abigail Wheeden, Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron In their article, Baird and Peterson (this issue) propose that current prac- tice in infant-parent interaction assessment and intervention may con- flict with family-centered philosophy. Baird and Peterson suggest that if parents should decide against directly focusing on interactions with their child as a means of attaining desired developmental outcomes, the par- ents' preferences should be respected. In this article, we have attempted to respond to some of the major assumptions that underlie the early intervention model proposed by Baird and Peterson. We argue that their conceptualizations of both family-centered philosophy and intervention in parent-child interaction are inaccurate. We propose that the central purpose of family-centered philosophy is to support and enhance the effectiveness of parents as caregivers and primary influences on their children's development. Every intervention option, at some level, has the potential to affect parent-child relationships. Given that parents are the primary influences on their children's development, they can never have a real option not to focus on their interactions with their children. We argue that the information derived from the parent-child interaction lit- erature is the foundation for developing intervention procedures that are truly effective at accomplishing the goals of family-centered philosophy. Baird and Peterson (this issue) present three main concepts regarding early intervention service practices. First, they assert that Address: Gerald Mahoney, Family Child Learning Center, Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron, 143 Northwest Ave., Bldg. A, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278. TECSE 17(2), 165-184 (1997) © PRO-ED, Inc.