According to the assumptions of theories explaining the process of learning and reading from a socio-cognitive and socio-pragmatic perspective, an important role in shaping reading competences is played by the child's early interactions with the printed word, taking place in the relationship with parents, whose involvement in arousing children's cognitive curiosity and creating scaffolds for their development may be associated with, among others: conviction about their knowledge, skills and effectiveness in organizing support for the child in learning, ways of perceiving one's own parental role and expectations towards one's own child. Although Polish and foreign scientific research emphasizes the importance of the so-called reading situation in the home environment for the development of conceptual thinking, phonological awareness and linguistic competence in children, there is still a lack of clear data explaining what determines the quality of reading practices in the family. The research project carried out by the author of the presentation, in which nearly 400 parents of children with special developmental needs and children developing normally took part, is an attempt to recognize the factors determining the involvement of parents in developing skills necessary in the process of reading and writing. The presented research was conducted in a quantitative orientation using tools such as: Parent Behavior Inventory by M. Christina Lovejoy, Robert Weis, Elizabeth O'Hare and Elizabeth C. Rubin, Parent Cognition Scale by Jeffery D. Snarr, Amy M. Smith Slep and Vincent P. Grande, and Family Literacy Activities Inventory by Lay See Yeo, Winston W. Ong and Charis M. Ng. The results were analyzed using regression analysis in Model templates for PROCESS v4 for SPSS by Hayes. The research allowed for establishing relationships between the involvement of both groups of parents in undertaking early reading initiations and their supportive or coercive behaviors, self-assessment of their own behaviors in contact with the child and assessment of the child's behavior, as well as for recognizing predictors of the involvement of parents of children with and without special developmental needs in undertaking joint reading initiations with their children.

Keywords: Home Literacy Environment, Reading and Writing, Children with special educational needs, Parents.