Journal of School Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 27–49, 2000 Copyright  2000 Society for the Study of School Psychology Printed in the USA 0022-4405/00 $–see front matter Pergamon PII S0022-4405(99)00035-7 Does the Content of Mothers’ Verbal Stimulation Explain Differences in Children’s Development of Verbal and Nonverbal Cognitive Skills? Karen E. Smith The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Susan H. Landry The University of Texas Health Science Center Paul R. Swank The University of Houston The present study examined whether mothers’ verbal input at 3 years of age that specifies relations between objects, actions, and concepts (scaffolding) related to children’s development of verbal and nonverbal cognitive skills from 3 through 6 years of age. We were particularly interested in whether these relations differed for children who varied in their levels of biological risk (full term, n = 114; preterm, n = 198). Mothers’ scaffolding when children were 3 years of age occurred on aver- age in about 18% of the interactions observed in everyday situations in the home. Growth-curve modeling revealed that, for all children, scaffolding predicted verbal and nonverbal skills even after controlling for families’ socioeconomic status and frequency of maternal stimulation. Scaffolding was more strongly related to pre- term as compared to full-term children’s growth in nonverbal skills. Preterm chil- dren with mothers who used scaffolding more frequently had nonverbal skill devel- opment that more closely approximated that of full-term children. However, by 6 years, all children in this predominately low-income sample displayed low cognitive age scores. Experimental studies would be the next step to determine if increasing this type of verbal interaction would foster more optimal outcomes.  2000 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd Keywords: Parenting, Cognitive development, Biological risk. Theorists describe the importance of adult guidance that supports chil- dren’s learning in joint problem-solving activities as a means of understand- ing how children begin to solve problems on their own (Vygotsky, 1978). Caregivers provide “other regulation” in the context of social interactions Received May 6, 1999; accepted November 18, 1999. Address correspondence to Karen Smith, University of Texas Medical Branch, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Development, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX 77555-0319. Phone: (409) 772-2355; fax: (409) 747-2094; E-mail: ksmith@utmb.edu 27