Systematic Review of Interventions Designed to Teach Imitation to Young Children With Disabilities

• Published in: Topics in early childhood special education Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 202 - 214
• Main Authors: Ledford, Jennifer R., Windsor, Sienna A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2022; SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Applied behavior analysis; Children with disabilities; Cues; Disabilities; Early childhood education; Imitation; Intervention; Peer Influence; Positive Reinforcement; Preschool Children; Program Effectiveness; Prompting; Special education; Systematic review; Toddlers; Young Children; intervention strategies; experimental studies; peer-mediated; research methodologies; single-subject designs; evidence-based practices; applied behavior analysis
• ISSN: 0271-1214; 1538-4845
• DOI: 10.1177/02711214211007190

This review was designed to characterize current intervention research for increasing imitation for young children with disabilities. We identified 34 unique sources including assessments of different types of massed trial and embedded trial interventions. Across intervention types, when evaluated via the Single Case Analysis and Review Framework (SCARF), positive outcomes were more likely to occur when dependent variables were primary (i.e., not secondary to another dependent variable) and context-bound (i.e., collected during intervention sessions). When only primary variables from high-quality studies were considered, embedded trials more often resulted in functional relationships. Recommendations for practice include using cues, prompts, and rewards for imitation; teaching imitation to toddlers; attending to imitation function; and teaching imitation in varied contexts.