title: Generalized imitation of facial models by children with autism.
abstract: Imitation is an essential skill in the acquisition of language and communication skills. An initial phase in teaching young children with autism to engage in appropriate affective responding may be to teach the imitation of facial models. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, imitation training (consisting of modeling, prompting, differential reinforcement, and error correction) was introduced successively across 3 participants. Low and inconsistent rates of imitation of facial models were observed in baseline. All of the participants learned to imitate some of the facial models presented during imitation training, but only 2 of the 3 participants demonstrated generalized responding across stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Queens College, City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, New York 11367, USA. jaimedes@aol.com
authors.forename: Jaime Ann
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: DeQuinzio
authors.forename: Dawn Buffington
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Townsend
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sturmey
authors.forename: Claire L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Poulson
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology