Imitation of pretend play acts by children with autism and Down syndrome.

The team watched kids copy pretend play. They tested autistic children, kids with Down syndrome, and typical peers. Each child copied single pretend moves and whole pretend stories. The study ran in 1997 and used simple toys like tea sets and dolls.

Autistic kids copied single pretend moves better than the other groups. When the task needed several linked pretend steps, they fell behind. Kids with Down syndrome and typical peers handled the longer scripts more smoothly.

Eussen et al. (2016) later showed the same pattern holds for different imitation types. Autistic kids do fine on spontaneous imitation but struggle when adults ask for elicited gestures. The 2016 paper extends our finding by proving the gap is not just about pretend play.

Rutherford et al. (2003) dug into why longer pretend sequences are hard. They linked the trouble to theory-of-mind gaps, not memory or planning issues. Their work extends ours by naming a likely cause inside the child’s social-cognitive system.

Jarrold et al. (1994) looked at the step before imitation: understanding pretend. They found autistic kids could grasp simple pretend acts. Our study shows that knowing the act and copying it are two different skills.

When you test play skills, break the task into tiny steps first. Celebrate solid single-scheme copies, then slowly chain two or three schemes. Use visual scripts or video models to bridge the gap. Targeting the sequence, not the single act, is where therapy time should go.