Psychoeducational treatment of children with autism and reactive attachment disorder

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of short-term psychoeducational treatment in children with autism and reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Ten boys with autism aged 24-66 months and 11 children with RAD (nine boys and two girls) aged 30-70 months were included in the study. The Ankara Developmental Screening Inventory was used to monitor progress following a 14-session psychoeducational programme. This focused on establishing a reciprocal-dyadic interaction between children and their caregivers and it also provided an educational programme for emotional, social, and language development. Although both groups showed significant changes on all scales of the ADSI, the children with RAD showed greater improvement than the autism group in their total development score, on the language-cognitive subscale, and in social/self-care abilities.