Those who rn an ABA programme imitation skills?

[staryeyed]

My son ASD 2.4 has little in the way of imitation skills. He has just learned to nod "yes" and shake "no" (yey!) although he doesnt use them really consistently. He can copy me do things like match numbers etc but can not touch his head if I do or copy any other Gross motor skills. I think he can copy some things with props- bang a drum etc. He can also imitate sounds and sometimes words only when he wants to.

What I would like to know is can you teach imitation skills or are they an innate ability? Im looking to set up ABA soon and a lot of it seems based around this skills that my son doesnt have.

Also I know that PECS and ABA should be compatible because it is from the same principle but how does it work in practise? Are there problems combining them?

You can teach imitation skills, although there are no doubt kids who don't ever get it or who take a long time. You use classic ABA, i.e. prompting and REINFORCEMENT!! Copying and matching are the two most useful basic skills and the first things taught usually in ABA progs, as well as "come here" which I think is essential now I know what I know. I don't think you should fiddle around with copying or you may be confusing him and targeting things that are not useful, e.g. if "yes" and "no" are not functional and he is not ready for them then better to teach much more basic skills. PECs is compatible because it also uses prompting and reinforcement as fundamental teaching tools.

yep it's the first skill on an ABA programme. It took ds1 3 years to learn it (after starting ABA- he finally got it last autumn aged 7 when we restarted ABA). I'ts incredibly useful. When we started we did a lot of 'do this' then simple stuff with an object - so putting a toy tomato in a box. He understood the trials and what was expected, and could do them at the table but didn't cognitivley 'get' imitation until last autumn. I don't think he would have learned it without ABA.

You can also do matching etc and all the things Davros mentions. If your child has poor imitation ime ABA is the ONLY therapy that offers anything - there is a lot you can do around teaching that, and without imitation. Something like RDI is impossible without imitation.

(PS Davros- 'come here' is finally beginning to work outside - only spannered by big compulsions). For the first time in 8 years I've let ds1 go outside (ie not held his hand- although only a long way from roads (we have done some pavement practice with 3 adults as well )

Davros- I didnt teach him yes and no he picked it up from a lady that was working with the speech therapist. She was very good -really enthusiastic and he responded well to her. She asked "does this go here" and was shaking her head and he started to copy.

Gess- does he copy easily now or is it still difficult for him? Its really good about the "come here"!

Well, if yes/no is functional then that's great. DS is 12 and we are still working on it!! He doesn't like using PECs for yes/no but will shake/nod. I often do sneaky tests and make sure he isn't just saying yes to everything and it does seem to be working at last.
The whole thing about copying is for them to get the underlying skill iyswim. It doesn't matter what the thing is that is being copied, it is the copying itself that matters. DS got it very quickly when we started his ABA prog and to this day I can say "do this" and he will (within reason!).
I thought nothing of "come here" when we first started (10 years ago, aaagh!) but, over the years, it dawned on me that it is one of THE most useful skills for the reasons Gess outlines. Being able to go out, even cautiously, and know that you can say "come here" and it will work has been an absolute life saver for us. It also means that I don't have to breath down his neck the whole time, he can have a bit of freedom and not have to hold mummy's hand at 12!!

Davros I think his yes/no is functional. He is definitely using shaking his head at the right time. I think he is sing yes correctly too just not 100% of the time.

So does it mean that because he can copy yes/no he may be able to copy other things?

If yes/no is functional then he won't be copying it iyswim. But maybe if he learnt it in the first place as copying then it probably means that he can copy other things.

Well he was shaking his head before but it had completely no context to it. Its like the lady put it into context for him so that now he knows what it means.

That is Generalisation, i.e. teaching something and the child then "getting" the function and using it without any prompting, in all settings, with all people etc.