Combining a Being Imitated Strategy With IBT Improves Basic Joint Attention Behaviors in Young Children With ASD.
Three months of adult imitation before regular IBT gives a small late boost to eye-gaze joint attention in preschoolers with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Spjut Janson et al. (2022) asked if starting ABA with three months of adult imitation helps joint attention later.
Kids with autism first got a being-imitated (BIm) phase. Then they moved to regular intensive behavior treatment (IBT). The team tracked eye-gaze and gesture joint attention for 15 months.
What they found
Eye-gaze joint attention rose a little after the full program. Gesture joint attention stayed flat. No jump happened during the imitation-only months.
The boost showed up only once real IBT drills began.
How this fits with other research
Aznar et al. (2005) already proved that 25–40 h/week IBT lifts IQ and language big-time. The new study keeps that same dose and adds a short imitation warm-up.
Giallo et al. (2014) saw joint-attention gains after one year of plain IBT. Spjut Janson’s kids also gained, but the gain was smaller and only for eye gaze.
Han et al. (2025) pooled 25 ABA studies and found only small joint-attention effects overall. The modest eye-gaze bump here matches that small-effect picture.
Ensor et al. (2024) taught therapists quick rapport games that cut problem behavior before sessions. Both papers show that a brief pre-ABA engagement step can smooth the path without hurting later learning.
Why it matters
You can keep your IBT hours and lessons the same. Just spend the first 8–12 sessions copying the child’s play, sounds, and moves. This tiny front-end habit may give a later nudge to eye-gaze sharing once drills start. It costs nothing and fits inside most intake windows.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In the present study, we examined how an initial being imitated (BIm) strategy affected the development of initiating joint attention (IJA) among a group of children newly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One group received 3 months of BIm followed by 12 months of intensive behavior treatment (IBT) which equaled treatment as usual whereas a second group received IBT for the entire 15-month study period. We utilized two measures of IJA: an eye gaze and a gesture score (point and show). IJA did not change during the first 3 months of treatment, nor were any significant between-group differences noted. However, at the end of the 15-month-long intervention period, the BIm group used eye gaze significantly more often to initiate joint attention. No significant change was noted for the gesture score. These results suggest that an early implementation of a being imitated strategy might be useful as less resource intensive but beneficial “start-up” intervention when combined with IBT treatment as a follow-up.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022 · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.784991