The social behaviour between a mother and her child with autism spectrum disorder

Background:   The interaction between a mother and her child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a dynamic and bidirectional process, influenced by both the social-communicative restraints of the child and the interaction style of the mother.

Objectives: To compare the social behaviour of a child with ASD in interaction with its own versus an unfamiliar mother.

Methods: For this study a group of 16 young children with ASD (CA, M = 37 months) were compared to a group of 15 typically developing (TD) children (CA, M = 40 months). Each child was observed during free play, first in interaction with its own mother and 2 to 8 weeks later in interaction with an unfamiliar mother. Measures of language ability, general development and ADOS-G were administered for both groups. All play interactions were recorded and mother’s and child’s social behaviour was coded.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that mothers of a child with ASD reacted as responsive as control mothers, but that they took more social initiatives and were more stimulating and directing in play. Children with ASD showed significantly less social attempts and responses in interaction with their mother than TD children. When comparing the social behaviour in the ‘own’ versus ‘other’ mother-child dyad, we failed to find any differences in either group. For the ASD group however, we found a negative correlation between a mother’s social behaviour and the child’s responsiveness, but only within the ‘other’ dyad. At IMFAR, final results will be presented.

Conclusions: These results suggest that the impact of an adapted interaction style by mother is rather limited on children with ASD. Furthermore, in approaching an unfamiliar child with ASD an unobtrusive interaction style seems more appropriate.