Teresa A. Cardon

The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen at an astonishing rate over the past decade. Ten years ago, one in 10,000 children was diagnosed as having an ASD. Today, one in 110 children is diagnosed with an ASD (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). As the number of ASD cases continues to increase, autism research focusing on prevention, treatment, and intervention has become a high priority for the National Institutes of Health and other research organizations. It is imperative that speech-language pathologists read and understand the most current research available on this growing population.

The inability to imitate is a salient diagnostic marker for autism. It has been suggested that for children with autism, imitation may be a prerequisite skill that can assist in the development of various skills. Using a multiple baseline design across subjects, the purpose of this research was to determine if two interventions, reciprocal imitation training and video modeling were effective in promoting imitation acquisition in young children with autism. Six boys were matched across various features (i.e., age, language, autism severity) and randomly placed in a treatment condition. Results indicated that all six participants increased their imitation skills to varying degrees in both conditions, and imitation maintained and generalized at higher than baseline levels post treatment.