The contribution of imitation assessment and imitation training to a personalised clinical diagnosis and early intervention of young children with autism spectrum disorders, Instructional Course

Abstract

An additional rating of age-specific symptom severity in young children with ASD may allow a more personalised clinical diagnosis and consequently a tailor made treatment plan. There is a growing body of research suggesting that children with ASD have imitation difficulties. The level of the imitation deficit is an important predictive factor for the response to treatment and the developmental outcome. Therefore, targeting the development of imitative skills may be an important focal point in early intervention. This instructional course focuses on imitation assessment as well as imitation training in preschoolers with ASD. The Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS) is a multidimensional measure of imitation aptitude in preschool children. Bodily and procedural imitation age-equivalent scores were derived from PIPS scores of 654 typically developing children between 1 and 4.9 years of age. The imitation age-equivalent scores of the PIPS offer the possibility to determine imitation retardation in relation to the children’s nonverbal mental age. This approach of imitation assessment may well offer meaningful information. First, it may provide insight in the future learning capacity of the child. Second, the possibility to distinguish a young child with ASD with imitation problems from one without imitation problems, may allow us to refer the appropriate child for imitation training programs. The PIPS and an imitation training program (ITP) for preschoolers with ASD using applied behaviour methods in an elicited imitation condition, shall be presented at this instructional course.