Dyadic Interaction Coding System (Lunkenheimer, 2009)

Affect codes
Affect	Description
Negative affect	Expressions of irritation, annoyance, distress, anger, disgust, sadness, discomfort, fear, nervousness, or anxiety.
Neutral Affect	Affect that is flat with few fluctuations or lilts.
Low positive affect	Slightly positive lilts or warm tones in the parent’s voice, smiles that are small and closed-mouthed, or warm eye contact that reflects interest or engagement with the child.
Medium/high positive affect	Regular positive fluctuations in the parent’s or child’s voice, open-mouthed smiles, laughing or giggling, and/or warm eye contact indicating joy or surprise.
Goal-directed behavior codes
Parent adaptive	Description	Example
Proactive structure	Parent encourages, guides, or prompts child to behave in a positive manner.	“Let’s pretend that the box is a house and help all the dolls find their way back home.”
Teaching	Parent explains how something works or asks child a task-related question and allows child the opportunity to respond verbally or behaviorally.	“I think the blue coin might go in the blue slot.”
Positive reinforcement	Parent provides verbal support or praise.	“Great job!” Giving a thumbs-up.
Emotional support	Parent empathizes with child, helps child label emotions, or physically comforts child.	“Are you feeling kind of nervous?”
Directive	Parent uses commands that bid child to respond in a specific way.	“Don’t throw that block.” “Can you put it here?”
Engagement	Parent is engaged with child through eye contact or non-task-related conversation.	“What should we have for lunch today?”
Parent maladaptive	Description	Example
Disengagement	Parent is not engaging with child, is ignoring child, or seems spaced out during the interaction.	Parent ignoring child’s request to play a game.
Intrusion	Parent physically takes over the task or object, and/ or physically completes some of the task for the child.	When child has difficulty with a puzzle, parent takes piece away and completes it herself.
Negative discipline	Parent (a) provides a harsh directive with a negative consequence, (b) criticizes child, or (c) physically punishes child.	“Get back here or I’ll spank you.”
Child adaptive	Description	Example
Persistence	Child persists at completing a task without preceding prompts by parent.	Child continues to work on puzzle on his or her own.
Compliance	Child clearly responds to parent’s bid for a behavioral change.	Child places a piece of puzzle as requested by parent.
Social conversation	Child is engaged with parent in play-related or non-task-related conversation.	“Is Daddy going to come play later?” “Oink, oink!”
Solitary or parallel play	Child is playing on his or her own without engaging with parent.	Parent and child building two separate towers near each other.
Child maladaptive	Description	Example
Noncompliance	Child does not comply with parent’s bid for behavioral change, by ignoring, disagreeing with, or refusing request.	Child picking up red block after the parent asked child to leave blocks alone.
Disengagement	Child is not engaged with parent or task, seems spaced out, or loses focus or has no particular direction.	Child looks away from task and stares at floor. Child wanders around room.
Behavioral dysregulation	Child has dysregulated emotional episodes (positive or negative) with a clear physical or behavioral component.	Child throws tantrum, withdraws by curling into a ball, runs in circles around room giggling.