What is imitation and why is it important?

Imitation is a key building block in early development because it helps children to learn how to communicate, interact, and understand the world around them. When children imitate gestures, sounds, or words, they are practising essential skills that lead to language development and emotional connection. It is through imitation that children begin to engage in turn-taking, joint attention, and shared experiences—all of which are foundational for communication and building relationships. Through imitation, children gain confidence, learn routines, and build the foundation for more complex learning and communication skills.

How does imitation help speech and language development?

Imitation helps children to learn and connect with the world around them, it is also a fundamental skill for language development. Children learn to do new things by watching other people. Before toddlers can talk, imitation serves as a foundation for communication. First, they learn to copy actions that they see others perform with familiar objects, for example, shaking a rattle. Then, children learn to imitate body movements and communicative gestures, for example, mimicking actions while singing nursery rhymes - rolling hands for ‘Wheels on the bus’. Next, they learn to imitate actions involving the face and mouth, such as blowing a kiss. Moving forward, children imitate silly sounds in play, for example, exclamatory words like ‘wee’ and ‘uh oh’, also sounds of animals (i.e., ‘moo’, ‘neigh’) and sounds of vehicles (i.e., ‘beep beep’, ‘vroom vroom’ and ‘choo choo’). After that, they begin to learn to use real words in verbal routines that are familiar to them and highly predictable, for example, ‘Ready steady go’ before pushing the car. Then, children proceed to imitate real words.

Strategies to foster your child's imitation skills

• Sing action songs with your child: Model the actions and ask your child to copy
  the actions. For example, sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” while touching each part.
• Play with toys and model use: Use a variety of toys and model in different ways to play with the toys. For example, pretend to feed a doll and say ‘Dolly is eating. Dolly wants more. Dolly eats’ to encourage your child to copy the action.
• Use a mirror to copy gestures: Make a silly face in the mirror and encourage the child to copy.
• Imitate your child’s actions or sounds: Imitating your child’s actions or sounds helps improve imitation skills because it builds connection, attention, and trust. This often encourages the child to notice the adult and begin to imitate in return, creating a natural back-and-forth rhythm.
• Make it fun and playful: Turn imitation into a game. For example, add silly moves like spinning, hopping, or dancing to encourage copying when singing nursery rhymes. Playing with sounds is also a fun activity to do with your child, for example, saying ‘mmm’ when pretending to eat, and also making a big ‘ahhh’ after having a drink.

• Praise their efforts for imitating actions: Praise their effort by saying ‘good copying’ after they imitate an action.

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References

1. Ingersoll, B., & Gergans, S. (2007). The effect of a parent-implemented imitation intervention on spontaneous imitation skills in young children with autism. Research in developmental disabilities, 28(2), 163-175.
    
2. DeThorne, L. S., Johnson, C. J., Walder, L., & Mahurin-Smith, J. (2009). When “Simon Says” doesn’t work: Alternatives to imitation for facilitating early speech development.
    
3. Gill, C., Mehta, J., Fredenburg, K., & Bartlett, K. (2011). Imitation therapy for non-verbal toddlers. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 27(1), 97-108.