There is growing scientific interest in the precursors to the ability of conceiving other
people's minds. The present study investigates two candidate precursors, imitation
and
joint attention, in young children with autism and a control group of nonautistic children with a
developmental delay. Children with autism were found to be impaired or delayed in both
abilities. Gestural and procedural imitation were significantly related to mental age and
chronological age in subjects with autism. Although the evidence for an autism-specific deficit
appears to be stronger in the domain of joint-attention behaviors than it is in the domain of
imitation, it seems premature to reject imitation as a possible precursor to the development of
mindreading skills. Systematic investigations of the imitation deficit in autism are urgently
needed.