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Another look at imitation in autism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Tony Charman  and
Simon Baron-Cohen
Tony Charman*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University College London
Simon Baron-Cohen
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Tony Charman, Department of Psychology (Philips House), University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT. UK.
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Abstract

Several authors have recently suggested that imitation may be a developmental “precursor” of a theory of mind and have linked impaired imitation in children with autism to their failure to develop a theory of mind. The present study investigated early-emerging procedural and gestural imitation abilities in children with autism. Children with autism were found to have intact basic-level gestural and procedural imitation. We discuss these results in terms of their relation to a specific developmental delay hypothesis of autism and re-assess the status of imitation as a developmental precursor of a theory of mind.

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Type
Articles
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Development and Psychopathology , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , Summer 1994 , pp. 403 - 413
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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