Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that affects social development and social communication. As the prevalence of ASD increases, more children on the spectrum are growing into adolescents and young adults. Adolescents have unique needs as they transition from childhood to adulthood. One imperative skill deficit…

A severe deficit in handwriting is known as dysgraphia, a problem frequently associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Video self-modelling (VSM) has been proven effective for children with ASD in the strengthening of social skills, verbalizations, and daily living skills. Because VSM has demonstrated success in the acquisition of many types…

Observational learning is the process used to explain the acquisition of novel behaviors or performance of previously acquired behaviors under novel conditions after observing the behavior of another person and the consequences that follow the behavior. Many learners with autism do not attend to environmental stimuli at a level sufficient to learn…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between tasks that require delayed discriminations such as delayed imitation and delayed matching to sample on acquisition of skills using video modeling. Twenty-nine participants with an ASD diagnosis were assessed on a battery of tasks including both immediate and delayed imitation and…

The increased prevalence of autism has created an increased challenge for teachers to incorporate specialized teaching strategies to address the unique educational and behavioral challenges facing children diagnosed with autism. Providing teachers with educational training opportunities will promote such learning. In the academic world,…

A skill essential for successful inclusion in general education settings is the ability to learn by observing others. Research, however, has documented children with autism display significant deficits in the fundamental skills necessary for observational learning. This article outlines the skills essential for observational learning from an…

We evaluated the effects of monitoring responses on the acquisition of sight words with 3 children with autism. In the training condition, we taught participants a vocal imitation and matching response related to a peer's reading response. In another condition, participants were exposed only to a peer's reading responses. Participants read the…

Play is a complex phenomenon that occurs naturally for most children; they move through the various stages of play development and are able to add complexity, imagination, and creativity to their thought processes and actions. However, for many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the various stages of play never truly develop, or occur…

This study used a concurrent correlational design to examine associations between three types of motor imitation with objects and three proposed correlates in 32 two- and three-year-old children diagnosed with ASD. Attention-following and fine motor ability were significant, unique correlates of imitation in an observational learning context.…

The investigation systematically assessed whether four autistic children (5 to 7 years old) would improve their learning of discrimination tasks if they observed normal children perform the task correctly. In each case, the peer modeling procedure produced rapid achievement of the acquisition criterion which was maintained after the peer models…

Children with autism exhibit significant deficits in imitation skills which impede the acquisition of more complex behaviors and socialization, and are thus an important focus of early intervention programs for children with autism. This study used a multiple-baseline design across five young children with autism to assess the benefit of a…

A structured discourse strategy, employing child echoic imitations and adult expansion, was used to teach five autistic preschool children two-term semantic relations. The strategy increased the children's initial spontaneous imitations of two-term relations. Following the imitation increase, spontaneous productions of the two-term relations…

Attempts to identify deficits in object knowledge specific to the autistic syndrome. Examines the correspondence between sensorimotor and play behaviors and language in mentally retarded and normal children. Determines whether these correspondences are different for autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children.(Author/AS)

Modern research has suggested that imitation is a natural mechanism of learning and communication, yet the possibility of imitation in newborn humans has been controversial. This book looks at evidence for innate imitation in babies. The chapters in the first section of the book reassess the Piagetian tradition, especially concerning the relation…