Study: Autistic children do not develop typical mimic behavior

By Staff Writer

Yawning is widely considered an unconscious response from humans that reflects an acknowledgement of how others feel. A new study suggests that children with an autism spectrum disorder do not develop that common contagious reaction.

Researchers from University of Connecticut discovered that autistic children do not acquire the same tendencies to imitate that most normal children do at an early age, MSN HealthDay reports. The study's lead author says that kids typically mimic the behavior of their parents or guardians, and it is an integral step in a child's social and emotional growth.

During one of the experiments, a storyteller read aloud the same 12-minute story in front of two sample audiences. The speaker yawned four times throughout the reading, and the reactions varied between the two groups. Approximately 11 percent of children with an ASD yawned after the storyteller yawned, compared to 43 percent of the kids without autism.

According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in every 110 children in the U.S. have an ASD.