Spontaneous Imitation and Affective Modulation in Minimally Speaking Autistic Preschoolers

Abstract Purpose Imitation is associated with adaptive functioning and spoken language development in typical and autistic development. However, there is limited knowledge on imitation skills and underlying processes in minimally speaking autistic preschoolers. Methods This study examined spontaneous imitation and visual attention of to-be-imitated actions under different conditions in minimally speaking autistic preschoolers compared to speaking autistic and typically developing peers. One hundred two preschoolers were encouraged to imitate video-recorded actions performed by a demonstrator under playful and neutral conditions. Their visual attention patterns during the demonstration were recorded via eye-tracking. Results Across groups, children attended more to the face in the playful condition and more to the action in the neutral condition, while imitation accuracy was higher in the playful condition. Minimally speaking autistic children showed reduced attention to the demonstrator’s action and lower imitation frequency and accuracy than both comparison groups, whereas speaking autistic children performed comparably to typically developing peers. Conclusion These findings suggest that imitation in autistic preschoolers is modulated by the affective state of the demonstrator and the spoken language level of the imitator