The observation manual provides a system for the naturalistic observation of interactions between the preschool child and the caregiver. It can be used in research with the preschool aged child and the parent or teacher in home, laboratory, or school settings. The behavior categories included are applicable for collecting frequency data or sequential patterns of behavior and are appropriate for a study of reciprocal social interactions. The categories for observation of social interaction include context codes, child behaviors and caretaker behaviors. The context codes describe the play setting and the physical proximity of individuals in the interaction. The child behaviors categories include actions upon objects, physical movement, facial expressions, direction of gaze, and verbal and non-verbal communication. The caregiver behaviors include teaching behaviors, direction of physical movement, direction of gaze, facial expressions, and verbal and nonverbal communication. These categories of behavior are useful in a sequential analysis of data. A set of categories can be selected that are mutually exclusive and exhaustive. Using the mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories, behaviors of the child and the caregiver can be recorded simultaneously to provide data on patterns of behavior. Data on the sequence of the behaviors is obtained by recording the observed order of the occurrence of specified behavior patterns in units of time. (Author/RH)