The effect of a parent-implemented imitation intervention on spontaneous imitation skills in young children with autism.
Parents can run short imitation games at home to spark spontaneous copying in toddlers with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ingersoll et al. (2007) asked parents to deliver Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) to their toddlers with autism. The families came to a clinic first. Therapists showed parents how to copy their child’s play actions and sounds. Parents then practiced at home every day.
The team used a multiple-baseline design across three children. They filmed play sessions to count spontaneous imitation. All sessions happened at home after the clinic coaching.
What they found
Every child began to copy adult actions and sounds more often after parents started RIT. The gains showed up at home and lasted after the study ended. Parents said the routine felt natural and easy to keep doing.
How this fits with other research
Escalona et al. (2002) first showed that simply imitating a preschooler with autism boosts their social approaches. Brooke et al. moved the same idea into parents’ hands and still saw gains.
Ishizuka et al. (2016) later tested contingent vocal imitation with parents and also saw more child turn-taking. Neimy et al. (2020) pushed the age even lower, teaching moms to echo every baby sound. All three studies line up: parent imitation lifts child communication.
Llanes et al. (2020) swapped the setting to online classes. Parents learned PRT through a screen and still improved toddler social skills. The pattern is clear: parents can deliver naturalistic imitation training in person, at home, or over the web.
Why it matters
You do not need to be in the room for every trial. Coach parents to copy their child’s play actions and sounds during normal routines. Five minutes of shared play after breakfast can build spontaneous imitation without extra table time. Start with clinic modeling, then fade yourself out.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with autism exhibit significant deficits in their ability to spontaneously imitate the play actions and descriptive gestures of others. Reciprocal imitation training (RIT) is a naturalistic imitation intervention designed to teach spontaneous imitation skills during play. This study assessed the effectiveness of parent-implemented RIT using a multiple-baseline design across three young children with autism and their mothers. After an initial baseline, mothers were taught to implement RIT techniques with their child twice a week for 10 weeks in a clinic setting. Two mothers were taught to use RIT to teach object imitation. The third mother was taught to use RIT to target both object and gesture imitation in a multiple-baseline design across behaviors. Generalization was assessed in the families' homes at the end of treatment and a 1-month follow-up. Parents learned to use the intervention strategies and their children exhibited increases in spontaneous imitation. These findings replicate the results from previous studies, indicating that RIT is effective for teaching imitation skills to young children with autism in a naturalistic setting and extend the findings to parents.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2007 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2006.02.004