Addressing the Element of Deficit in Children with Autism: Psychotherapy which is Both Psychoanalytically and Developmentally Informed

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Abstract
The paper discusses a new approach to the psychotherapy of the child with autism: the developmentally informed use of the psychotherapist's counter-transference to repair the deficits in a particular subgroup of severely autistic children marked more by indifference than by avoidance. The deficits concern social, communicative, play and self-regulation functions. Infant development research has illuminated certain precursors of social/cognitive development, and it is important that therapists tune responses to the appropriate, possibly very early, developmental level at which the child is functioning. Technical problems involved in dealing with the addictive elements in autistic repetitive behaviours are also discussed. Modem developments in psychoanalytic technique have helped, but even these may need supplementing in the treatment of severely impaired children.

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