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Brief Report: Imitation of Object-Directed Acts in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Brief Report: Imitation of Object-Directed Acts in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Anna Gonsiorowski, Rebecca Williamson and Diana Robins
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, v 46(2), pp 691-697
Feb 2016
PMID: 26386710
url
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2596-1View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders Pediatrics Child and School Psychology Neurosciences Public Health Psychology Imitation Social learning Cognitive development Visual attention Developmental disabilities
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) imitate less than typically developing (TD) children; however, the specific features and causes of this deficit are still unclear. The current study investigates the role of joint engagement, specifically children’s visual attention to demonstrations, in an object-directed imitation task. This sample was recruited from an early ASD screening study, which allows for an examination of these behaviors prior to formal diagnosis and ASD-specific intervention. Children with ASD imitated less than TD children; children with other developmental delays showed no significant difference from the two other screen-positive groups. Additionally, only the ASD group showed decreased visual attention, suggesting that early visual attention plays a role in the social learning of children with ASD.

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22 citations in Scopus

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Psychology, Developmental
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