Deficits in communication are characteristics of many neurodevelopmental and biological disorders in young children. Specifically, individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at risk for having challenges developing verbal language skills as well as engaging in appropriate social communication with others. It is necessary to understand foundational skills that are predictive of deficits in the domain of language and communication because it would allow researchers and mental health providers to address skills early through interventions to support the development of speech and language in children with ASD.
Imitation is a skill that is influential to overall development in many areas of speech and language development. Imitation has two direct functions, which include learning a broad range of developmentally appropriate skills and learning appropriate and effective social engagement (Ingersoll, 2008). Children learn much of their behavior and novel skills by observing others and attempting to perform similar behaviors and actions. Imitation increases learning in areas, such as play skills, object function, motor movements and attention to tasks.
Imitation is pivotal in language development. Previous studies suggest that imitation is predictive of receptive, expressive and overall language abilities for young children with ASD. Imitation supports social engagement because it allows children to practice nonverbal communication, verbal communication and word approximations, and nuances of appropriate back-and-forth reciprocal communication. Supporting imitation has been found to directly increase language and communication skills.
During imitation, children do not only imitate what others do, but they imitate what others are attempting to do (Carpenter, Tomasello, & Striano, 2005). This suggests that there is a large social process to imitation. Due to challenges with social engagement for children with ASD, it is understandable that children with ASD also have challenges in the skill of imitation. Imitation studies with typically developing children have suggested that imitation allows for practice in the concept of “self-other processing,” which allows for children to learn how to predict the intentions of others (Shih, et al., 2010).
Longitudinal studies have found supportive research that imitation targeted through intervention increases language development. There are two evidence-based approaches to interventions that are commonly implemented to support youth with ASD increase developmental skills, specifically imitation. An evidence-based approach to supporting and teaching imitation skills for children is discrete trial training (Ingersoll, 2008). This is a structured approach that breaks down skills into simpler steps and individualizing the teaching to the individual child (Smith, 2001). This type of approach has been found to be successful in supporting youth with ASD to develop important skills for overall development. The concern with this approach to skill development is that skills practiced and learned in one setting are not necessarily generalized to different settings with different providers and individuals.
An alternative method of supporting the development of imitation skills is through Reciprocal Imitation Training. This is also referred to as Intensive Interaction (Lidstone, Ulijarevic, Kanaris, Mullis, Fasoli, & Leekam, 2014). This is a naturalistic approach to teaching imitation that includes the caregiver imitating the child. Reciprocal Imitation Training consist of multiple simultaneous factors, which include creating an environment that is naturalistic but conducive to dyadic interactions (e.g., ample space, limited inappropriate distractors, etc.), a play-partner imitating the child’s play (e.g., objects, gestures, play), explaining through simplistic language the actions the child is carrying out and prompting and reinforcing to allow increased imitation from the child (Wainer & Ingersoll, 2015).
Imitation is an important skill for individuals to learn to be able to engage in pragmatic communication. Understanding that imitation is a catalyst for the development of speech and language shows that different intervention to support the development of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder should be aimed at increased imitation skills during childhood.
References
Chaste, P., Leboyer, M. (2012). Autism risk factors: Genes, environment, and gene-environment interactions. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 14, 281–292.
Lidstone, J., Ulijarevic, M., Kanaris, H., Mullis, J., Fasoli, L., & Leekam, S. (2014). Imitating the child with Autism: A strategy for Early Intervention. Autism: Open Access, 4, 1–4.
Poon, K. K., Watson, L. R., Baranek, G. T., & Poe, M. D. (2012). To what extent do joint attention, imitation, and object behaviors in infancy predict later communication and intellectual functioning in ASD? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 1064–1072. doi:10.1007/s10803-011-1349-z
Shih, P., Shen, M., Ottl, B., Keehn, B., Gaffrey, M. S., Muller, R. (2010). Atypical network connectivity for imitation in autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychologia, 48, 2931–2939.
Smith, T. (2001). Discrete trial training in the treatment of Autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 16(2), 86–92.
Wainer & Ingersoll (2015). Increasing access to an ASD imitation intervention via a telehealth parent training program. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45, 3877–3890. doi:10.1007/210803-01402186-7
Young, G. S., Rogers, S. J., Hutman, T., Rozga, A., Sigman, M., & Ozonoff, S. (2011). Imitation from 12 to 24 months in autism and typical development: A longitudinal Rasch analysis. Developmental Psychology, 47(6), 1565–1578. doi:10.1037/a0025418
