4 Year Old Emulating Autistic Boy in Class

I raise my niece. And my niece is really great, aside from not listening and wanting to do what she wants. Getting there.Wondering if anyone has experienced or has any thoughts of help on this. But there is a boy in her preschool who is autistic, doesn't communicate well and makes noises a lot of times to communicate.We have noticed she emulates this behavior sometimes, especially when she is not wanting to do something or just sometimes random things.For example she wants to be picked up and will just stand in front of me waiting for me to pick her up. If I ask her what she wants she sometimes will just ask me normally, but other times she'll just make a noise.What I tend to tell her is that isn't how you ask for something and to ask properly she gets more upset etc.She is fine developmentally (except with brushing her teeth, what a pain that is to do, haha), but we think this is where she is pulling this behavior from.It's a small preschool as most are so she interacts with the boy regularly and is friends with him.Just struggling with exactly how to handle this. I'm sure in time it'll pass and she'll understand that's not the way to communicate. She doesn't do it regularly, but it's frustrating when she does.Any thoughts, would be helpful, thank you! via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2dD9q3L