ABSTRACT

Taking a psychoanalytic and developmental approach, Autism and Personality outlines in considerable detail the new developments in therapeutic techniques used by the Tavistock Autism Team and Workshop to treat autistic children. It also underlines the importance of support for parents and siblings, who are all too often ignored under considerable stress. The book presents fresh ideas about the importance of personality for the developmental course of the condition, and the implications for psychotherapeutic technique. Using case vignettes to illustrate the theoretical ideas emerging from the Workshop, coupled with case studies which highlight the patient's changing contact with the therapist, it gives a fascinating picture of the individuality of each child and of the sensitivity and skill required for each treatment.

Accessible to professionals and also to parents, Autism and Personality is a valuable insight into the nature and course of this condition and its treatment.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

Autism, personality and the family

part |102 pages

Theoretical and clinical developments

chapter |20 pages

The assessment of the child with autism

A family perspective

chapter |13 pages

Addressing the deficit

Developmentally informed psychotherapy with passive, ‘undrawn' children 1

chapter |17 pages

Disorder, deviance and personality

Factors in the persistence and modifiability of autism

chapter |14 pages

Echo or answer?

The move towards ordinary speech in three children with autistic spectrum disorder

chapter |20 pages

Autism and trauma

Autistic Post-Traumatic Developmental Disorder

part |133 pages

Case studies

chapter |16 pages

Catherine

The wind beneath my wings: the importance of hope in recovery from trauma

chapter |14 pages

Sean

From solitary invulnerability to the beginnings of reciprocity at very early infantile levels

chapter |12 pages

Edward

Lost and found: from passive withdrawal to symbolic functioning

chapter |14 pages

Conor

Hold on or you'll fall: the struggle to become an ordinary boy

chapter |15 pages

Carmen

Despot or subject: the discovery of beauty in a wilful, passionate child

chapter |17 pages

Matthew

From numbers to numeracy: from knowledge to knowing in a ten year-old boy with Asperger's Syndrome

chapter |10 pages

Becky

Motive in her mindlessness: the discovery of autistic features in a learning disabled adolescent

chapter |15 pages

Warren

From passive and sensuous compliance to a more lively independence: limited therapeutic objectives with a verbal adolescent

chapter |18 pages

Joe

Towards solid ground: an adolescent's request for a second course of psychotherapy 1

chapter |1 pages

Endpiece