Table 1.

Rating Scales for Affective and Behavioral Qualities of Maternal Support

Scale Name	Scale Description (Adaptation to Memory Conversations Indicated in Parentheses)
Supportive Presence	Degree to which mother provides emotional support to child's efforts.
	1 = Mother fails to be supportive to the child, either being aloof and unavailable or being hostile when the child shows need of some support. (Mother fails to show her interest in child's memories; she is passive and uninvolved in the conversation.)
	6 = Mother skillfully provides support throughout the session. If the child is having difficulties, she finds ways to structure the problem to reward some sort of success by the child and encourage whatever solution the child can make. Mother not only is emotionally supportive but continuously reinforces the child's success. (Mother is emotionally supportive by confirming, repeating, encouraging, and praising the child's conversational contributions. If the child has difficulties in recalling the event, she reassures the child that she has confidence in child's abilities to remember. Mother often finishes the conversation by providing some kind of closing, saying for example “Did you have fun there?” or “Do you want to do this again?”)
Respect for Autonomy	Degree to which the mother's actions acknowledge the validity of child' perspective and individuality.
	1= Mother completely denies the child's individuality in the techniques she uses. She is very intrusive and forceful in controlling the child. (Mother denies the child's point of view and insists on her own agenda in the conversation; she shows no interest in the child's opinion; she often interrupts and negates the child's contributions.)
	6 = Mother encourages the child to acknowledge her/his intentions, and to negotiate the course of interactions in the sessions. (Mother acknowledges the validity of the child's perspective by giving the child an opportunity to talk, by following the themes introduced by the child, and by focusing on the child's memories. She shows an interest in the child's opinion and her/his version of the event.
Structure and Limit Setting	Degree to which mother establishes structure and expectations for the child and consistently sets limits on noncompliance.
	1= Mother fails to communicate her expectations and shows no effective leadership; she seems powerless to affect the child's behavior.
	6 = Mother responds consistently and authoritatively to compliance problems; she may be intrusive or respectful of child's autonomy, but achieves this level of structure and limit setting.
Quality of Instruction	Degree to which mother structures the tasks with cues that are clear about the task objectives. Her provision of help is timely, clear, and useful.
	1= Mother's instructions are of poor quality: she either is totally uninvolved or gives clues that are of no help to the child's efforts and appears to embody no effective plan of teaching. (Mother either does not provide any helpful information about the event, or most of her information does not require the child's responses, or she repeatedly asks the child for the same information. She often changes the topic of the conversation, especially if the child had difficulties of remembering. The conversation does not have a clear organization and narrative structure.)
	6 = Mother structures the task that the child understands the objectives and can attempt to solve the problems directly. Mother's assistance is matched to the child's abilities and needs. (Mother provides a clear narrative structure in the form of open- ended wh-questions that helps organize recall of the event. She clearly introduces the event and makes sure that the child knows the topic of the discussion. She provides additional, more effective cues to help the child in a timely manner. The mother's approach suggests that she has some sort of a plan for how elaborative questions will help the child to recall the event. Yet, she is also sensitive in recognizing the child's themes during the conversations and is flexible in responding to these themes.)