title: Imitation in eight young infants with Down's syndrome.
abstract: Imitation of tongue protrusion and mouth opening was studied in eight infants with Down's syndrome. Five of the children were observed at approximately 1 mo, seven around 3 mo, and seven at 4 mo. The only significant group result revealed imitation of tongue protrusion at 1 mo. In addition, a descriptive analysis of each child's response pattern during the presentation period showed that all five children observed at 1 mo imitated tongue protrusion and that four of them also seemed to imitate mouth opening. The result for the 3-mo observation was some-what inconsistent. All but one of the infants increased their response rates of both tongue protrusion and mouth opening when mouth opening was modeled. At 4 mo imitation seems to disappear. Overall, the findings are in agreement with what is known from typically developing children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heimann
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ullstadius
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Swerlander
mesh_terms: D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth; D014059:Tongue