Imitation - It’s the Name of the Game!

Imitation is a young child’s primary tool for learning, and is crucial to the development of many important skills, from language development to social and cognitive functioning.  Children are natural observers and they learn from watching you! They need to spend a great deal of time observing a new skill before trying it themselves. This is a big part of why we speech pathologists want you to talk constantly - the more language your child hears, the more likely they are to imitate you and eventually use words themselves. 

Why does imitation matter?

At first glance, imitation might seem like a minor developmental step. Ultimately, we want kids doing things and saying things independently, right? While that’s true, imitation plays a crucial role in how your child will learn and develop new skills. We naturally learn from watching others, so imitation provides an important mechanism for learning from others before true language emerges. It is also important for bonding and the ability to relate to others. When a child watches Daddy preparing dinner in the kitchen and eventually gets up on a stool and starts pretending to stir food in a bowl, there is important bonding happening - the child now thinks, I can do what Daddy does!

There is still some debate about how and why babies begin to imitate. Several theories, including the theories of operant conditioning, associative learning and the operant intermodal mapping theory all try to explain what is sometimes referred to as the binding problem. Essentially what this refers to is how do children come to bind, or glue together, something that they have observed with the same behavior in themselves. Is it something innate that exists in all babies, is it a learned cognitive skill, is it something else that we don’t yet know? My position, as with most debates such as this, is that it is probably explained by some combination of many theories. If we look at things from Piaget's perspective (and his theory of imitative development), we can see that imitation happens in stages based on a child’s cognitive development, with each stage becoming more complex and more cognitively involved. 

“We naturally learn from watching others, so imitation provides an important mechanism for learning from others before true language emerges. ”

The active intermodal mapping theory was proposed by Meltzoff and Moore to explain facial imitation. They believe that early imitation is a “matching-to-target process”. The infant uses a proprioceptive feedback (the sense of position and movement of the body) loop to determine if their actions, in this case facial expression, matches the model provided by the caregiver. This then serves as a basis for the infant to modify and correct their attempt to better match the model. Even though infants can’t see their own facial expressions, unless of course they are positioned in front of a mirror, they use proprioceptive feedback to evaluate their movements. This is similar to models of speech development in which somatosensory feedback is used to shape the accuracy of speech production. 

And if you really want to go down a serious rabbit hole, do a quick internet search for mirror neurons. The mirror neuron system (MNS) is believed to play an important role in imitative behavior and action perception. To put it very, very simply (because I am certainly not an expert on the topic) mirror neurons respond to actions that we observe in others. That is, they fire the same way when we observe someone else performing an action as they do when we recreate that action ourselves. As this was first discovered in monkeys, this is a new take on the phrase “monkey see, monkey do”. As with many theories, much of the initial “hype” has been quieted. It is now believed that mirror neurons, while still very important, may only be a piece of the puzzle and not the sole explanation for human imitation and behavior development. Turns out we might be slightly different from monkeys. It’s an incredibly interesting and constantly developing topic and lots of research is ongoing. Again - serious rabbit hole. 

It’s not just about the imitation of words.

A child’s ability to imitate the actions of others is an important method for acquiring new knowledge and skills. And here’s an important piece of information for you - imitation of actions precedes the imitation of words! This is something you might not necessarily pay attention to. I’ve always found parents to be much more excited by their child’s imitation of sounds and words than actions and gestures. But the imitation of actions  and gestures is crucial! These early gestures often accompany first words (e.g., “bye bye” while waving, “oh no!” with hands up in the air). I bet your child imitated you throwing your hands up in the air before he or she said “oh no!” for the first time. This type of imitation is a huge developmental step and definitely something to be excited about!

How to increase imitation 

Here are some simple ways you can work on building imitation in your everyday routines:

SLOW DOWN. Slow, repeated movements and slow, repeated words are the best “bait” for imitation. Start with a simple action. For example, tap your hands on the table, and model it repeatedly for your child, and model it slowly so that your child can follow along. This is the same rule for trying to get your child to imitate sounds and words. Repeated, slow vocalizations and words are best. A few other ideas for imitating actions - try jumping, clapping, reaching, pointing, poking, silly faces - really whatever it takes to get your child interested, the sky's the limit! Be sure to pair a fun vocalization or word with your action. Get creative here and have fun (e.g., “wheee!”, “boom!”, “uh oh!”, “go!”). 

Sing! Singing songs, better yet, repetitive songs, is another great way to enhance imitation. Think about the annoyingly repetitive songs that kids love (I’m looking at you Baby Shark). There is a reason they are so appealing - they are easier to sing along with than fast songs that have rapidly changing vocabulary. Even tapping piano keys or banging on a drum can be fun ways to get your child engaged and imitating. One of my favorite tools to increase imitation in therapy is an echo mic. You can usually find these at the dollar store or online, but if all else fails, even talking into a cup or bowl can have a fun echoey effect and can make your child more likely to imitate you. 

Back off. While we’re on the subject of verbal imitation, there is one crucial element that must be discussed which may seem counterintuitive to many parents - don’t put pressure on your child to imitate! I know many parents are desperate to hear their child’s first words, which is absolutely understandable. But putting pressure on your child to talk, and by this I mean instructing them to “say [insert desired word]” or asking questions like “what’s this called” is extremely counterproductive to imitation. This type of pressure disrupts the flow of conversational turn taking and, more importantly, just isn’t fun! In order for your child to imitate you, you need to be the most fun and engaged version of yourself possible. Trust me on this one - take the pressure off! Focus instead on modeling slow, repetitive words and exaggerating your intonation to really get your child engaged.

Wait and See. Another important thing to note is to make sure you are giving your child an opportunity to imitate. This means you must be patient and wait to see if they are going to imitate the action or word you have modeled. If you don’t give them a chance, it’s probably not going to happen. This just means taking a brief pause, maybe looking at your child expectantly, before trying again. 

What if your child just won’t imitate you? Turn the tables on the situation and start imitating your child instead! This can be just as effective in initiating the all important conversational turn taking that happens when your child imitates you. If your child starts cooing or babbling, simply repeat back the vocalization (to the best of your ability). Babies enjoy these sorts of verbal games and interactions. And there is a good chance that once your child experiences this, they will start imitating you as well. 

One final note - as mentioned above, children are natural (and constant) observers. Be aware of what you are modeling, not just language-wise, but in your daily habits and routines. For example, a child who sees mom and dad reading regularly is probably going to want to be a reader too. A child who sees mom and dad watching TV constantly is probably going to want to watch more TV. 

Don’t be discouraged if your child isn’t imitating right away. Remember, kids often need to see (and hear) things many, many times before they are going to try it for themselves. Keep at it! Even if your child isn’t trying a single action or sound or word, the modeling and play you are doing is still having a huge positive impact. Imitation will come. If this goat can do it, so can you! And just for good measure, here is one more cute baby video. You’re welcome. 

For more tips on encouraging imitation and early language development check out my Let’s Get Talking! course here, and for a deeper dive into the topic, check out the references below.

Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (1996). Action recognition in the premotor cortex. Brain, 119(2), 593-609.

Lepage, J. F., & Théoret, H. (2007). The mirror neuron system: grasping others’ actions from birth? Developmental science, 10(5), 513-523.

Meltzoff, A. N., & Decety, J. (2003). What imitation tells us about social cognition: a rapprochement between developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 358(1431), 491-500.

Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1997). Explaining facial imitation: A theoretical model. Infant and child development, 6(3‐4), 179-192.

Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1977). Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science, 198(4312), 75-78.

Di Pellegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. (1992). Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study. Experimental brain research, 91(1), 176-180.

Piaget, J. (2013). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. Routledge.