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Imitative behavior by Down's syndrome persons.

A B Silverstein, B F Aguilar, L J Jacobs

American Journal of Mental Deficiency

|January 1, 1979

Summary

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Individuals with Down syndrome do not excel at imitative behavior, contrary to long-held beliefs. This study found no significant differences in nonverbal, vocal, or verbal imitation skills between Down syndrome and other groups with severe intellectual disability.

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Genetics

Background:

A long-standing clinical observation suggested individuals with Down syndrome possess exceptional mimicry skills.
This hypothesis has persisted for over a century in clinical literature.
However, empirical evidence to support this claim has been limited.

Purpose of the Study:

To empirically investigate the hypothesis that individuals with Down syndrome exhibit superior imitative behavior.
To compare the imitative abilities of subjects with Down syndrome to those with other diagnoses.
To assess imitation across different modalities: nonverbal, vocal, and verbal.

Main Methods:

Three standardized scales measuring nonverbal, vocal, and verbal imitative behavior were administered.

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Participants included 28 subjects with Down syndrome and 56 subjects with other diagnoses.

All subjects had severe intellectual disability, with comparable sex, chronological age (CA), and intelligence quotient (IQ) between groups.

Main Results:

The study found no statistically significant differences in imitative behavior between the Down syndrome group and the control group.
Performance on nonverbal, vocal, and verbal imitation scales did not support the hypothesis of enhanced mimicry in Down syndrome.
The results indicated that imitative skills in Down syndrome are not superior to those in other severely intellectually disabled populations.

Conclusions:

The findings do not support the widely held belief in the superior imitative abilities of individuals with Down syndrome.
This study challenges a century of clinical observation, suggesting that imitative behavior is not a distinguishing characteristic of Down syndrome.
Further research may be needed to explore the nuances of imitative behavior in this population and its relationship to other cognitive and developmental factors.