Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy
Advisor/Mentor
Frazier Highfill, Kimberly
Committee Member
Watson, Cynthia
Abstract
Abstract
Background:
Imitation, a foundational social and cognitive development mechanism, enables individuals to acquire cultural norms, communication skills, and problem-solving strategies. Over-imitation— the replication of both relevant and irrelevant actions demonstrated by others—plays a critical role in social learning. While typically developing children often engage in over-imitation to promote social bonding and affiliation, the role and underlying motivations for over-imitation in children with ASD remain less clearly understood.
Purpose:
Through a critical synthesis of professional and scholarly literature, this review aims to evaluate the history and development of research on imitation and over-imitation, assess empirical findings regarding typically developing children and children with ASD, identify methodological and conceptual limitations in the existing literature, and propose directions for future research. This analysis seeks to provide a nuanced understanding of the role of imitation in social communication development and its clinical relevance for interventions and learning strategies for children with ASD.
Methods:
A comprehensive search was conducted using University of Arkansas Libraries OneSearch UARK, which included databases such as Taylor & Francis, EBSCO, MDPI, Elsevier, and ScienceDirect. Keywords such as “over-imitation in children with autism,” “over-imitation in children with autism and typically developing,” and “autism spectrum disorder” were used to identify relevant peer-reviewed studies published between 2009 and 2024. Articles were included if they focused on imitation behaviors in children with ASD and/or typically developing. Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized for this review.
Results:
Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Data was taken from these articles and then reviewed and synthesized into a table format. The findings suggest that children with ASD engage in over-imitation less frequently and demonstrate different patterns of selective imitation, favoring goal-directed over stylistic imitation. Additionally, the findings indicate that imitation is foundational for the acquisition of pragmatic communication skills. Deficits in imitation among children with ASD are linked to broader challenges in language development, joint attention, and social reciprocity.
Conclusions:
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate distinct patterns of imitation that reflect broader challenges in social motivation, pragmatic communication, and cognitive processing. These findings emphasize that imitation differences in ASD are not simply deficits but complex variations that warrant careful clinical attention. A deeper understanding of these differences has significant implications for speech-language pathology, informing the development of targeted interventions that support social learning and communication growth in this population.
Keywords
over-imitation; imitation; autism spectrum disorder; over-imitation skills in children with autism spectrum disorder
Citation
Stadler, J. M. (2025). Over-Imitation Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared to Typically Developing Peers: An Expanded Literature Review. Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cdotuht/5
