The APPROACH (A Procedure for Patterning Responses of Adults and Children) technique was used to code observations of behavior and setting in this ecological study of adult-child cognitive communication patterns. The subjects observed were 32 children who proportionately represented each of four age groups (1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years) and who were stratified for sex, race, and socioeconomic status. The data resulting from the APPROACH coding provided a quantified, finely-detailed description of behavioral events and their environmental framework. The major findings were: (1) there is a significant shift in the social setting at age 3 from adult and child alone to adult teaching a group of children, (2) the object of a child's communication varies with the social setting, (3) more than 2/3 of adult behavior predicates emitted to children are verbal, (4) total frequency of adult cognitive inquiring and informing behavior emitted to a child remains high and constant to children in all age groups, (5) adults shift from mostly informing to mostly inquiring as children grow older and (6) the adult uses showing on demonstration to the child-alone less frequently as the child grows older. (MH)