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Conference Discussion [Autism2006]
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Rebecca Jacobson
Reg'd: 3rd Oct 06
Posts: 13

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attachment parenting and autism (3rd Oct 06 12:21:04 GMT)

I practiced attachment parenting with my son. Obviously at the time I didn't realise that he had ASD. He slept in our bed until he was almost two and was breastfed as long. I have found that he has always had quite a strong emotional bond with his father and I and this has later transfered to his sister. He shows quite good empathy and compassion for his immediate family too. Even now at 6 he seems to find comfort in cuddling up to me and likes to be held. I was wondering if the parenting style we adopted helped with this. Of course I have no evidence to back this up and I could be really grasping at straws here but I was just interested to know what others think.
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attachment parenting and autism
  Fairy's Mum   1  04-Oct-06 07:47:29 GMT 
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Hello,

We have two adopted children, our eldest has RAD (amongst other things), and our youngest is autistic.

We use lots of attachment style parenting with our children, co-sleeping, keeping them very close, lots of empathetic and emotionally literate parenting, we've even taken our youngest out of school part time to support her more emotionally, and provide her with a more supportive environment (while we are fighting for 1:1 support for her).

Over the years we've found that the more traditional parenting styles don't work for our children (they need time in and not time out), our youngest becomes very distressed when near 'shouty' people, the difference is immediatly visible, even when visiting other family members, who use more traditional methods with their own children, it can take days to get our youngest back on an even keel, as she becomes very oppositional and overwhelmed very quickly.

I really do think it has helped both our children, our youngest has good empathy and compassion, is a snuggly little soul who is comforted by and craves contact and generally happier for the style of parenting we are using.
attachment parenting and autism
  Anna Dridan   0   
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I found the whole notion of attachment and autism a fascinating subject. I went to a conference late last year and had the pleasure of listening to a speaker outline the research she had done in this field. While it was always commonly thought that mothers didn't attach or bond properly with autistic children, it has become apparent that in fact they have, it is just in a way that isn't the same as NT children. I get annoyed when people say there is a right and wrong way to parent. Children with disabilities do need extra protection in some ways, and if lots of cuddles and co-sleeping does this then I think that's wonderful. I guess there is an issue with ASD children who aren't affectionate in the traditional sense, but the issue is with people who don't understand ASD. ASD children/adults are affectionate and do attach, just in a different way.
I think this is an important question
  Lili Marlene   0   
attachment parenting and autism
  charles ng   0   

 

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