The possibilities of Positive Psychotherapy to help children with autism(ASD) and their families

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the possibilities of working with autistic children using PPT methods. The present work presents possibilities for using the psychodynamic aspects of Positive Psychotherapy with the autistic child and as a means of contact with his/her parents. Positive Psychotherapy. with its psychodynamic roots, can also provide an alternative to the increasingly widespread and imposed cognitive-behavioral treatment methods in the work with autistic children. A short scale was modified for the purposes of the study: Differential Analytical Scale for the Study of Children with Autism (completed together with one parent):Sample: 50 children diagnosed with varying degrees of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated in the study. The age of the participants ranged from 3 to 9 years (M=6.27 years; SD =3.17). Among them, 38% were girls. The results of the study show that several stages are essential in the work with autistic children: the first step of "observation" and connection can be lengthy and comprise the whole of the therapy with autistic children, working with the conflict reaction in the sphere of "contact," the area in which autistic children must develop the greatest resources. The skills of "time" and "patience" prove to be the key to establishing psychotherapeutic contact.