It is well known that children with autism have abnormalities
in their development of social behaviors. Some researchers have
pointed out that attachment behaviors are disturbed in autistic
children. However, in some studies, young autistic children exhibited
attachment behaviors to their caregivers in the reunion situation
following separation from their caregivers (Sigman and Ungere,
1984; Shapiro et al., 1985; Sigman et al., 1987). In this longitudinal
study, Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure was used to examine
the development of social behaviors, in young autistic and other
handicapped children. The social behaviors studied include attachment
behaviors to their mothers and social behaviors to a stranger.
METHOD
Subjects
Subjects were 30 consecutive admissions to the Research Institute
for the Education of Exceptional Children. These subjects were
9 children with autistic disorders, 4 with PDDNOS, 5 with mental
retardation, and 6 normal children with a slight developmental
delay at the age of 18 months. They were diagnosed with DSM-III
R around age 3. These subjects were observed three times at approximately
24, 30, and 36 months.
Procedure
The subjects' social behaviors were videotaped in the laboratory playroom during Strange Situation Procedure developed by Ainsworth and her colleagues. This paradigm consists of eight 3-minute-episodes, namely an introduction episode, a mother-baby free play episode, a stranger-mother-baby episode, a stranger-baby episode (a first separation), a mother-baby episode (a first reunion), a baby alone episode (a second separation), a stranger-baby episode, a mother-baby episode (a second reunion). A set of toys was placed in the center of the playroom.
The social behaviors observed during the Strange Situation were
social interaction, vocalization, looking, smiling, approaching,
physical contact, searching, following, and crying. In addition,
we evaluated the children's social interaction with their mothers,
attachment behaviors to their caregivers during the separation
and reunion episodes, social behaviors to the stranger, and an
awareness of transitions between episodes.
RESULTS
Attachment patterns of young autistic children
Around 24 months, 66% of the mentally retarded children did not
exhibit any attachment behaviors through out the Strange Situation.
On the other hand, 66% of the autistic children did demonstrate
attachment behaviors. This was completely different from the
result we expected. It seemed as if these mentally retarded children
were like "autistic" children at this stage. However,
around 30 months, all the children except for the autistic children
exhibited attachment to their mothers. Although the autistic
children exhibited some attachment behaviors to their caregivers
during the reunion episodes, they were still in the process of
establishing clear-cut attachment to their caregivers. During
the reunion episodes, the autistic children demonstrated some
attachment behaviors, such as proximity- seeking to their mothers.
However, they did not exhibit any proximity- seeking behavior
during the separation episodes nor did they exhibit greeting behaviors
to their mothers during the reunion episodes. Around 36 months,
the autistic children were finally able to establish child-mother
attachment.
Social behaviors to a stranger
The process of development of attachment to the caregivers in
autistic children was slower than that of normal and other handicapped
children between the second and third years of life. In contrast,
the social behaviors of autistic children to the stranger were
dramatically reduced during the same period. Normal children
begin to engage in social interaction with the stranger following
the development of clear-cut attachment to their caregivers.
However, autistic children exhibited "ignoring" or "aversive"
behaviors to the stranger during the same period.
DISCUSSION
Some researchers pointed out that development of attachment was disturbed in autistic children. However, using the Strange Situation paradigm, we were be able to observe some attachment behaviors to their caregivers in autistic children. The results of this study demonstrate that autistic children can form attachment to their mothers, although the process of development of attachment is slower than that of normal and other handicapped children. On the other hand, the quality of attachment to their caregivers seems to be different from that of other developmentally handicapped and normal children. Although autistic children are be able to interact with their mothers when they want to get something, they cannot share emotion with their caregivers. It seems that autistic children form "an imperative secure base" instead of "a psychological secure base".
Our results suggest 3 important points regarding the development of social relationships in young autistic children. First, for autistic children, attachment to their caregivers and social relationships with other people may not share a common developmental process. Second, the quality of attachment of the autistic children differs from that of normal and other handicapped children. Third, impairment of social relationships in autistic children will occur frequently between the third years of life. I think that an early intervention program is very important for the development of attachment and social relationships for young autistic children during this period.