Effectiveness of Reciprocal Imitation Training on the Imitation Recognition Abilities of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the imitation training, given via Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT), on the frequency levels of the imitation recognition (IR) abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The design of this study was "Multiple Baseline Design Across Subjects," which is one of the single subject research designs. The study group consisted of 3 children with ASD who were 26 to 42 months old. When evaluated from the viewpoint of IR, the study outcomes reveal that unstable data are obtained in the frequency of less mature IR behaviors, while the frequency levels of testing behaviors among developed IR behaviors showed improvement as RIT sessions increase. As for the monitoring sessions, it has been observed that some subjects exhibited decrease in the mature and less mature IR behaviors frequency levels, while the permanence of gains acquired were maintained by some subjects 2 to 4 weeks after the implementation phase. The findings obtained under this study are discussed within the framework of the literature from the standpoint of the exhibition IR behaviors by the children with ASD in early childhood stage and of the RIT techniques.