Mother-infant interactions in infants at high risk of cerebral palsy compared to a low-risk group: A longitudinal study of the first 15 months.
CP-risk babies already show social-interaction gaps by four months, so begin parent coaching on cue-reading right after the first abnormal motor signs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hansen et al. (2025) filmed moms and babies at home every few weeks. One group of babies had brain scans or birth histories that put them at high risk for cerebral palsy. A second group had no known risks.
Researchers coded how sensitive each mom was to her baby’s cues. They also scored how often the baby smiled, vocalized, or made eye contact. Visits started when babies were about four months old and ended at fifteen months.
What they found
High-risk babies and their moms stayed behind the low-risk pairs across the whole study. Moms missed more subtle cues and responded less often. Babies offered fewer social signals like eye contact or babble.
Some gaps narrowed a little as babies grew, but the social lag was still clear at fifteen months.
How this fits with other research
Whittingham et al. (2010) showed that once preschoolers with CP are walking, their social skills still track with motor severity. The new infant data push that timeline backward, showing social gaps are already present before babies sit or crawl.
De Bock et al. (2017) proved that odd general movements at three months predict later CP in regular clinics. Adding the social-interaction lens gives you a second cheap screen you can do during the same visit.
Mastrogiuseppe et al. (2015) found toddlers with ASD used fewer gestures. The CP-risk babies here showed a different pattern: they still gestured, but moms missed the bids. That mismatch points to parent coaching, not child skills, as the first treatment target.
Why it matters
You can spot interaction trouble in CP-risk families as early as four months. A short video of free play plus a parent checklist is enough. Start teaching moms to pause, wait, and label every tiny baby signal. Early repair may blunt the social slide Koa saw in preschool.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AIM: To examine group differences and longitudinal trajectories in mother-infant interactions following an interim clinical diagnosis of high risk of CP up to 15 months corrected age. METHOD: This prospective observational study followed infants born in Denmark with (n = 23) or without (n = 36) identified high risk of cerebral palsy and their parents over time. Mother-infant interactions were assessed at 15 weeks, 9 months, and 15 months using the Coding Interactive Behavior manual. Group differences and trajectories in mother-infant interactions were analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) with bootstrapping to obtain robust estimates RESULTS: At 15 weeks (T1), the high-risk CP group differed significantly from the comparison group on all observed interactional dimensions, showing lower levels of maternal acknowledging (b = -0.93, p < .001), infant social initiation (b = -0.54, p = .007), and dyadic reciprocity (b = -0.58, p = .041), and higher levels of maternal intrusiveness (b = 1.04, p < .001) and dyadic constriction (b = 0.73, p = .018). While differences in maternal acknowledging and dyadic reciprocity were only present at 15 weeks, maternal intrusiveness and infant social initiation differences were present at 15 weeks and 15 months. Dyadic constriction differences were present across all time points. CONCLUSION: Early differences in mother-infant interaction between dyads with and without infant CP risk underscore the importance of tailoring interventions to read and respond to subtle infant cues. Supporting the parent-infant relationship from early infancy might enhance the effectiveness of early intervention and promote more optimal socio-emotional development.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.105131