Several tasks of elicited verbal and gestural imitation were given to a sample of 38 Down's syndrome and other mentally retarded children. The data are presented and discussed in relation to previous work on elicited verbal imitation. They confirm the validity of elicited imitation as a tool for assessing language functioning in mentally retarded subjects. The data also illustrate the inferior capability of the Down's syndrome children to imitate verbally and gesturally when they are compared to other retardates of corresponding CA and IQ.
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