Examination of correlates of different imitative functions in young children with autism spectrum disorders

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulties with social-communication skills, including imitation, language, joint attention, and play. This study investigated whether imitation performance in two different contexts (structured-elicited vs. social-interactive) was differentially related to attention-following, social reciprocity, language, and play in children with ASD. This study used a concurrent, correlational design to investigate the relationships between these skills in 23, 2–4-year-old children with autism. Participants imitated more actions on the structured-elicited than social-interactive task. After controlling for developmental level, imitation in the structured-elicited condition was correlated with vocabulary size and imitation in the social-interactive condition was correlated with vocabulary size, social reciprocity, and symbolic play. These findings suggest different skills may underlie imitation in different contexts. In addition, while imitation in both contexts appears to be important for vocabulary development at this age, imitation in a social context may be more important in the development of symbolic play skills.

Research highlights▶ We examined correlates of two imitation tasks for children with autism. ▶ Children imitated better on the structured task than the social task. ▶ The structured imitation task correlated with language skills. ▶ The social imitation task correlated with social, language, and play skills. ▶ Imitation in different contexts is associated with different behaviors.