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Imitation

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Definition

Imitation is considered to be an integral component of young children’s social development. The ability to imitate helps lay the foundation for quality social interactions. Empirical findings exploring early imitative abilities in children have found them to relate to an array of early childhood skills including: social engagement, nonverbal communication, language development, social understanding, and cognitive skills (Young et al. 2011; Rose et al. 2009; Olineck and Poulin-Dubois 2009; Strid et al. 2006).

Historical Background

Although empirical evidence supports the notion that individuals with ASD, as a group, imitate others with less accuracy and less frequency than their typically developing peers (Vivanti and Hamilton 2014), studies reporting on imitation abilities in individuals with ASD report heterogeneity across individuals (Rogers and Dawson 2010; Salowitz et al. 2012; Vanvuchelen et al. 2011; Vivanti et al. 2011). These differences in imitation abilities seem...

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References and Reading

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Special Education & Nisonger Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Kathy Lawton

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  1. Kathy Lawton
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Correspondence to Kathy Lawton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Lawton, K. (2020). Imitation. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_851-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_851-3

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