Teaching children generalized imitation skills: a case report

Teaching Imitation to Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Discrete Trial Training and Contingent Imitation

Imitation is a pivotal skill for children with and without disabilities, serving both learning and social interaction functions for young children. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently experience delays in acquiring this skillset, demonstrating challenges in the ability and/or propensity to imitate the actions of others. Current intervention programs frequently use discrete trial teaching (DTT) or contingent imitation to support imitation development in young children with ASD. This study combined contingent imitation with DTT to teach imitation to individuals who had previously struggled with acquiring this skill. A multiple probe design across three preschool children with ASD was conducted within participants' early learning classrooms. Response to intervention varied across participants, with participants with more advanced imitation skills at study onset demonstrating greater outcomes. Combining contingent imitation with DTT may facilitate the propensity to imitate for individuals who exhibit some appropriate object engagement and are inconsistently imitating others' actions with objects. However, further research using stronger research design is needed to improve the teaching of imitation to young children with ASD who exhibit challenges with this skillset.

Effects of serial and concurrent training on acquisition and generalization

Despite a large body of research demonstrating that generalization to novel stimuli can be produced by training sufficient exemplars, the methods by which exemplars can be trained remain unclear. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate 2 methods, serial and concurrent presentation of stimuli, to train sufficient exemplars. Five preschool children with developmental delays were taught to identify letters or letter sounds using serial and concurrent presentation. Generalization to untrained exemplars was evaluated for targets trained using each method. Participants reached the mastery criterion in fewer training sessions, on average, using the concurrent method of presentation than the serial method, and the concurrent method also resulted in greater generalization to untrained exemplars.

Prospective Social Entrainment: Imitation Interventions in Children With Autism

Imitation provides the basis for acquiring knowledge, as well as providing a foundation for the development of reciprocal social skills. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) do not naturally imitate others, and it is hypothesized that deficits in imitation may impede their ability to develop both academically and socially. Early imitation intervention studies, using traditional direct teaching (e.g., teacher-directed discrete trial training), focused on the learning function of imitation and were successful in improving skill acquisition but had little impact on the development of socially successful interactions. More recently, imitation interventions have targeted reciprocal or synchronous imitation (e.g., child-directed reciprocal imitation training), focused on the social function of imitation and have resulted in gains in imitation abilities and concomitant improvements in social engagement. This article explores imitation deficits in individuals with ASD, describes basic and applied research focusing on improving imitation skills, discusses implications for clinical intervention, and provides a synthesis of the current literature within the framework of prospective cognition.

How much change is true change? The smallest detectable difference of the Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS) in preschoolers with intellectual disabilities of heterogeneous aetiology

The teaching of imitation skills is often the first step in interventions for young learners with intellectual disabilities. The main goal of this study was to determine the smallest detectable difference (SDD) at 95% confidence of the Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS) in preschoolers with intellectual disabilities. Two raters independently scored videotapes of the imitation performance of 44 preschoolers (27 with Down syndrome, 10 with Non-Specific Mental Retardation and 7 with Low-functioning Autism) between 13 and 58 months of age (mean age 39.6 months, SD 11.9 months). Results revealed that the PIPS demonstrated acceptable interrater reliability on item level (weighted kappa values ranged from 0.52 to 0.96) and scale level (ICC = 0.986; 95% CI: 0.975-0.993). The SDD of the PIPS was 7.2%, indicating that the change score rated by different raters for an individual child with an intellectual disability is valid and that the PIPS can be used by early interventionists and researchers as an outcome measure to determine children's maturation or improvement.