Therapist and Parent Delivered Reciprocal Imitation Training for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ParentRIT)

The purpose of this study is to examine whether adding a parent education component to an existing intervention (Reciprocal Imitation Training) results in improved outcomes for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) is a behavioral intervention designed to improve spontaneous imitation skills in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Previous research suggests that it can be effective when used by trained therapists, teachers, siblings, and parents of children with ASD. However, it is unclear to what extent training parents to use RIT strategies in the home environment may enhance outcomes, compared to having therapists implement RIT individually with the child. The study will compare two different versions of RIT for young children with ASD: (1) two 60-minute weekly sessions of therapist-implemented RIT and (2) one weekly 60-minute session of therapist-implemented RIT and one weekly 60-minute session of parent education about using RIT in the home environment. The investigators will examine child and family outcomes between these two intervention types. Outcomes examined will include: (1) spontaneous and prompted imitation skills in the child with ASD, (2) social communication skills in the child with ASD, (3) parent stress, and (4) parent and child behaviors during parent-child play interactions.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Reciprocal Imitation Training (Therapist-Delivered); Behavioral: Reciprocal Imitation Training (Therapist + Parent Delivered)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 18
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Ohio
    • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43210
      • The Ohio State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 5 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• have a community diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (as reported by parent)
• meet cutoff for "Autism" or "Autism Spectrum" on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition
• be between 24 and 60 months of age at the time of study enrollment
• demonstrate difficulties with imitation skills on the Motor Imitation Scales and/or the Unstructured Imitation Assessment during pre-treatment assessments

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants must not be the sibling of another study participant

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Therapist Delivered; Children in the therapist-delivered condition will receive two, 60-minute long sessions of Reciprocal Imitation Training each week for ten consecutive weeks. These sessions will be delivered by trained graduate, undergraduate, and post-graduate research staff. Parents will be permitted to observe sessions via live video, but will not be directly involved in intervention.	Behavioral: Reciprocal Imitation Training (Therapist-Delivered); Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention aimed at improving social imitation skills.; Other Names: RIT
Experimental: Parent + Therapist Delivered; Children in the parent + therapist-delivered condition will receive one, 60-minute long session of Reciprocal Imitation Training each week for ten consecutive weeks. These sessions will be delivered by trained graduate, undergraduate, and post-graduate research staff. During the same period of time, parents/guardians of children will receive one, 60-minute long parent education session per week with graduate and post-graduate research staff, aimed at teaching parents to implement Reciprocal Imitation Training at home with the child.	Behavioral: Reciprocal Imitation Training (Therapist + Parent Delivered); Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention aimed at improving social imitation skills, using a combination of therapist-delivered intervention and parent training to deliver intervention in the home setting.; Other Names: RIT

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Unstructured Imitation Assessment (UIA)	The Unstructured Imitation Assessment (UIA) is a semi-structured, standardized test of imitation skills containing 10 object imitation and 10 gesture imitation tasks (Ingersoll & Meyer, 2011).	Change from baseline to 10 weeks (immediately post-intervention)
Percentage of parent acts imitated during Parent-Child Play Interaction	Percentage of parent play acts and meaningful gestures imitated by the child during a 10-minute unstructured play interaction with parent	Change from baseline to 10 weeks (immediately post-intervention)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parenting Stress Index, 4th Edition		Change from baseline to 10 weeks (immediately post-intervention)
Motor Imitation Scales		10 weeks (immediately post-intervention), 3 months post-treatment, 6 months post-treatment
Early Social Communication Scales		10 weeks (immediately post-intervention), 3 months post-treatment, 6 months post-treatment
Proportion of time spent jointly engaged during Parent-Child Play Interaction	Proportion of time spent in joint engagement state (joint focus on same activity) during a 10-minute unstructured play interaction with parent	Change from baseline to 10 weeks (immediately post-intervention)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Modified Behavior Intervention Rating Scale	10 weeks (immediately post-intervention)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ohio State University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 3, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 11, 2017
• First Posted (Estimated): January 13, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 24, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 21, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2015B0475

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO