Imitation: An Important Early Milestone
Autistic children often exhibit delayed imitation skills; this milestone is often one of the first skills taught in an early intervention program. Imitation is an early developmental milestone for several reasons:
Social Interaction: imitation serves as a foundation for social communication. When a child imitates actions with objects, it allows them to engage in reciprocal interactions with caregivers and peers. This serves as a basis for turn-taking, joint attention, and bonding.
Learning Through Observation: imitation of actions enables children to learn by observing others. It allows them to understand the function and purpose of different objects and actions in their environment. This observational learning is crucial for acquiring new skills and knowledge.
Language Development: imitation is closely linked to language development. Through imitation, children often imitate sounds, words, or gestures associated with objects. This process aids in language acquisition and understanding the meaning behind words or phrases.
Cognitive Development: Imitating actions involves cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and problem-solving. It helps children understand cause-and-effect relationships, spatial concepts, and sequencing of actions.
Symbolic Play: imitation lays the groundwork for symbolic play. When children imitate actions with objects, they begin to use objects symbolically, pretending that objects represent something else. This imaginative play fosters creativity and cognitive flexibility.
Building Relationships: Successful imitation fosters positive interactions between children and their caregivers or peers. It promotes a sense of connection and shared experiences, enhancing the quality of relationships.
Overall, object imitation in early development serves as a building block for a range of crucial skills. It forms the basis for social, cognitive, and linguistic growth, enabling children to learn, communicate, and interact effectively with their environment and others.
Strategies for Teaching Imitation at Home
Start with Simple Imitation Using Objects:
Offer examples of basic actions to imitate, like shaking a maraca, banging a drum, putting a crayon on paper
Have two examples of the object whenever possible, one for you to use and one for the child to use
Emphasize using repetition, and praise to reinforce successful imitation.
Incorporate Play and Routine Activities:
Imitation actions of your child when they are playing
Embed opportunities for them to imitate your actions within daily routines and play time like getting dressed or mealtimes
Some of our favourite toys for building imitation skills:
set out two maracas, pick up and shake one, and encourage your child to try the same!
make drums and shakers out of recycled containers
musical instruments are great cause-and-effect toys because when you move, shake, press, or pluck them, something happens!
