Imitation Performance in Children with Autism and the Role of Visual Attention in Imitation

In this study, we examined imitation performance, visual attention, and the relationship between imitation and visual attention of children with autism, developmental delay (DD), and typically developing (TD) children. The study findings revealed that children with autism and DD imitated less than TD children in all imitation tasks. Results also showed that children with autism spent less time looking at the model's face and movement area and more time looking at the external area. Lastly, the relationship between imitation and visual attention separated the study groups. The findings of the study provided new evidence that visual attention to movement area in children with autism was positively related to imitation performance in non-meaningful gestures.