Autism and Attachment
ASD and Bowlby's Theory of Attachment
What Is Bowlby's Theory of Attachment?
secure- A secure infant will feel uncomfortable and begin to cry when not in the presence of the mother, however the child can be consoled by the mothers presence
insecure- an insecure infant will not display any symptoms of being uncomfortable without the mother present
distressed- a distressed infant will feel uncomfortable and begin to cry when not in the presence of the mother, however, when the mother returns, the infant will be inconsolable
Disorganized- a disorganized infant will not have a response that is categorical in any other category
Normal Distributition
The results found that
securely attached infants- 60%
Insecurely attached infants- 20%
distressed infants-10%
disorganized infants-10%
What if my child is not securely attached?
Does my child have autism?
The answer: No!
Just because your child may not be securely attached does NOT mean that your child is in any way mentally ill or have autism!
How Attachment stacks up to Autism
- Many people believe that "if a child is not securely attached, then the child must be autistic". This is assumed based on how the infant reacts in a certain situation and the parallels with ASD.
- The reality, however, was discovered by John D Haltigan, in a lab study that compared the attachment of normal children and the attachment of at-risk children.
- Haltigan found that children who were at risk still had the same distribution between the categories as normal children