A new study is exploring the ways children learn to play and communicate. Women's Editor Christen Pears reports.

LITTLE Laura Bowman sits on a rug surrounded by toys. She gurgles happily as she picks up a set of brightly coloured plastic rings. After a minute or two, her attention wanders and her eyes fall on a farmyard, complete with stuffed animal. She pounces on it with a delighted grin, casting the rings aside. In the room next door, her every move is being watched on a television screen.

Laura, who is now 15 months old, was one of the first babies to be recruited to the Tees Valley Baby Study, currently being undertaken at Durham University's Queen's Campus in Stockton.

So far, researchers Dr Lucia Vittorini and Dr Kathryn Parkinson have seen more than 130 out of a total of 200 youngsters, studying the way they play and interact with their mothers. The babies will return at 14 months and then at two years to see how they have developed over the intervening period.

Families have been recruited from across Teesside and from all social backgrounds to make sure the sample is as representative as possible. There is an equal balance of boys and girls, as well as first-time mums and those who have older children.

"We've had a fantastic response - far more people have come forward than we need," says Dr Parkinson. "I think most mothers are fascinated by their own babies and, of course, they really enjoy it when they get here. It's all good fun for them."

The study, which is currently half way through its first phase, is examining the way young babies learn to play and talk. The team is particularly interested in finding out how a child's early experiences affect their later development and hopes the research will have far-reaching implications.

Dr Liz Meins, a psychologist and one of the project's grant holders, says: "We want to try to establish how and why children develop play and language skills. By learning more about it, we will be in a better position to intervene and help parents if their children do experience problems."

The research, which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Fund, is taking place at Wolfson Research Institute, which houses more than 100 of Durham University's researchers.

For the children taking part, it's like a dream come true - a brightly coloured room full of huge amounts of toys they've probably never seen before. Their mums are asked to fill in questionnaires about how they play with the youngsters at home.

The babies are then given a selection of toys and both mothers and researchers play with them. The sessions take about an hour and are recorded on video.

Laura's mum, Sarah, was approached by Drs Parkinson and Vittorini in the early stages of the study at the mother and toddler group they attend in their home town of Billingham. She said yes to taking part in the research immediately.

"I have two older children and I find anything to do with how they develop absolutely fascinating," she says. "I thought if we could be part of the study and help with the research, it would be worth joining in.

"At first, Laura sat on my knee and did some tests to see how far she was in her development and then they gave her lots of toys to play with. She had such fun. Presumably, the next stage is to see how she has progressed from there, to see how much she's grown up."

The research team has kept in touch with all the families taking part, sending the babies cards on their first birthdays.

Dr Parkinson says: "The parents are very keen to know what's going on. Some of the first babies are now nearly 14 months old and their mums are phoning up and asking when they need to come back. They're all really keen."

When the babies come for the second session, they will be asked to complete some of the same tasks but because they will have developed and changed so much, the researchers will be looking in more detail at how they play and what words they're saying.

Dr Vittorini says: "The kind of change you expect to see in babies that age will be huge. I'm not even sure if we'll recognise some of them. But it will be very interesting to see how different they are and how they've progressed."

According to Dr Meins, it is quite rare to follow a child's progress over time. "Most development studies tend to be cross-sectional, for example, where you go into a school and give a task to children. But in many cases, the most interesting thing is to see how individual children develop over time. It takes longer but longitudinal studies like this one often have more powerful findings," she says.

There will be interim reports but the study is expected to finish in the autumn of 2004. Once the data has been collated, the team will be giving feedback to health visitors and the mums themselves, as well as publishing academic research.

"Quite often, when you do research, you see people once and that's it but we want to keep the mums informed, as well as the health visitors who have been so helpful in recruiting people for the study. They will also receive a copy of the videos of their play sessions, which I think they're looking forward to."

While it's obvious the mums and babies are having fun, the research team is also thoroughly enjoying the study.

Dr Meins says: "I'm a mother myself so I know every baby has their own personality but when you see all of the babies coming in here, you really do notice it. There are some real characters and you find yourself watching the videos and smiling to yourself. It's wonderful."