Why is my child working on imitating movements during ABA Therapy?
How do children learn new things? Growing up we learned new tasks by watching others and then copying them. Your younger child could have learned to ride a bike by watching their older sibling. This is called imitation. Imitation is when an individual observes your behavior and then mimics what you do (Shibutani, 2022).
Why is imitation important in child development?
- Language development: Children can increase their language skills through imitation. They can copy the sounds, words, and sentences they hear others say. This can help them learn to effectively communicate.
- Social Skills: When children are playing, they can observe others around them and imitate what they are doing. This can help children learn the social cues of others. These cues can be greetings, facial expressions, and gestures. Which are all a crucial part of interacting with others.
- Cognitive skills: The skill of imitation can help a child understand cause and effect, problem solving, and develop new skills.
Imitation is a foundational skill that opens the door for many other learning opportunities. Imitation is an essential part of skill development that allows us to learn new things quickly and efficiently by watching those around us. When a child learns how to imitate, they will then have the ability to learn an unlimited number of things. They can take the skill of imitation and learn from others. This skill can be used for any type of imitation, physical, words, skills, phrases, and many more.
The imitation of motor movements can be a helpful tool when teaching sign language or understanding the skills around them. Imitation opens the door for individuals to learn without the need for direct instruction. Motor imitation is important for language and social communication development as well. This allows the individual to imitate the behaviors of the people around them, which can help them navigate social situations more easily.
ABA therapy can use a wide variety of techniques to teach and improve imitation skills. The programs start at the beginning with simple and small skills. The program might begin with a simple thumb movement and build upon that until they begin holding a pencil. Eventually leading to being able to write. Imitation allows us to use a wide variety of different skills to teach fine motor, gross motor, and even daily living skills. Imitation is an essential skill that when learned it can open many opportunities for the learner. These skills can even carry over into their everyday life.
By: Jenny Cuevas
