Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication Disorders and Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology

First Advisor

Linda Sperry

Second Advisor

Bridget Roberts-Pittman

Third Advisor

Christine Bahr

Abstract

It has been well documented that many children with autism, especially nonverbal children, exhibit imitation deficits that impact their abilily lo develop effective communication skills. Applied Behavior Analysis has been shown to be an effective strategy for teaching many skills to children with autism und other disabilities. However, with regard to imitation training, there is limited research on effeclive strategics to develop these skills. This paper provides an analysis of the apparent imitation deficit for many children with autism. It includes what the specific imitation deficits are for children with autism and how these deficits are different compared to children with other disorders. This is followed by a review of cun-ent empirically based treatments used to develop communication skills in children with autism, including peer modeling, video modeling and imitation training. It is followed by the report of a study aimed at increasing gross motor imitation skills in children with autism using a systematic prompting hierarchy and a reinforcement system. The participants of the study were three male children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Results of the study illustrate an increase in the imitation skills across three target behaviors for two of the three participants. It also demonstrates the development of the ability to request desired items independently by two of the participants.

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