3 research outputs found
From the emotional integration to the cognitive construction: the developmental approach of Turtle Project in children with autism spectrum disorder
Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder show a deficit in neurobiological processes. This deficit
hinders the development of intentional behavior and appropriate problem-solving, leading the child to implement
repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and to have difficulties in reciprocal interactions, empathy and in the
development of a theory of mind. The objective of this research is to verify the effectiveness of a relationship-based
approach on the positive evolution of autistic symptoms.
Method: A sample of 80 children with autism spectrum disorder was monitored during the first four years of
therapy, through a clinical diagnostic assessment at the time of intake and then in two follow-up.
Results: The results showed that through the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule it is possible to
assess the socio-relational key elements on which the therapy is based. There was evidence, in fact, of significant
improvements after two and four years of therapy, both for children with severe autistic symptoms and for those in
autistic spectrum.
Conclusions: Socio-relational aspects represent the primary element on which work in therapy with autistic
children and can be considered as indicators of a positive evolution and prognosis that will produce improvements
even in the cognitive are
The emotional contagion in children with autism spectrum disorder
Studies of the last decade have demonstrated that children with Autism
Spectrum Disorder (ASD) showed difficulties in language, social and relational
areas, but they had also impairment in the mechanisms of embodied simulation,
namely the imitative behaviors that allow the body to give an experiential
meaning to own and other’s emotions. The identification of this specific emotional
response in ASD children, also defined as emotional contagion, allows to move
the therapeutic focus from reducing the behavioral symptomatic expressions of
the child to promoting the expression of his ability of emotional regulation. The
aim of this study was to investigate the presence of emotional contagion in 53
ASD children aged between 22 and 66 months, through the Test of emotional
contagion and verify the presence of compromised emotional contagion areas.
Our findings have shown that the severity of the disorder is closely related to
the inability of the child to respond to the emotional stimuli, regardless from
cognitive abilities, and that emotion to which children responded most frequently
was happiness, while the one who responded less was anger