Increasing Vocalizations and Echoics in Infants at Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder
When moms echo their at-risk baby’s sounds on the spot, vocalizations and echoics surge.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Neimy et al. (2020) worked with three babies who showed early signs of autism.
Each mom was taught to copy every sound her baby made, right away, using happy "motherese" voice.
Sessions happened at home during normal play and care routines.
What they found
All three infants quickly began to make more sounds and copy their moms’ sounds.
The jumps were large and showed up in every session.
How this fits with other research
Pelaez et al. (2011) ran the same copy-the-sound game nine years earlier with eleven high-risk babies and saw the same lift in babbling.
Neimy’s team adds ASD-risk infants and home sessions, so the idea now spans both lab and couch.
Ishizuka et al. (2016) moved the tactic to preschoolers already diagnosed with ASD and still got more vocal turn-taking, showing the trick keeps working as kids age.
Sun et al. (2025) recently repeated the plan with a mixed delay group and found equally big gains, giving a 2025 stamp of approval.
Why it matters
You can teach parents to copy their baby’s sounds during diaper changes, snack time, or floor play and see vocal output rise within days. No toys, no table, no data sheet needed—just immediate imitation and a cheerful voice. Try it next visit: have mom echo every coo for two minutes and count the next five sounds.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Infant siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis (i.e., infants at risk of ASD) are excellent candidates for early interventions based on the principles of applied behavior analysis. This study replicates and extends behavioral research using contingent social reinforcement procedures (i.e., vocal imitation and motherese speech) to increase both vocalizations and echoics among 3 infants at risk of ASD with their mothers in the natural environment. Results confirmed earlier findings that contingent reinforcement, specifically vocal imitation, reliably produces high rates of vocalizations, echoic approximations, and emerging pure echoic repertoires in at risk infants. The online version of this article (10.1007/s40617-020-00413-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00413-2