Abstract
Few previous studies on contingent imitation have been conducted with preschoolers with language disorders. The purpose of the present study was to compare the differences in a child's verbal responses and interactions with an adult when the adult either imitates the child’s vocalization contingently or give him verbal praise to his vocalization contingently. We used an alternating treatment (A-B-A-B) design composed of the conditions of contingent vocal imitation and contingent verbal praise for a preschooler with language disorders. We observed the number of the child’s vocalizations, vocal imitations, and the average, minimum and maximum number of vocal turn-takings with an adult. It was found that more vocalizations, vocal imitations, vocal turn-takings occurred in contingent vocal imitation condition than contingent verbal praise condition. The results suggest that adults' contingent imitations increase children’s vocalization, vocal imitation, and vocal turn-taking with adults not only in infants and children with autism spectrum disorders, but also in preschoolers with language disorders. This indicates that contingent imitation may be an effective approach for children with language disorders.
