Some AU studies make you feel bad.

[Guest guest]

But I did Attachment parenting (Dr Sears) from birth to my son's DX.

If this study is true then why does my child have a deficit in speech

pragmatics? Attachment parenting is the gold standard for sensitive

parenting. When my child was DX at 5 I dropped Ap and did floortime

for 4 years then RDI/Floortime mix for 3 more years. Both therapies

based off of guided sensitive parent interaction with the child to

increase social abilities. I hate this study it just make me feel

like I did not do enough which is ridicules as what else could I of

done? It feeds right back into parents of kids with an ASD DX have to

be super parents. I am not a superhero just a human.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/uom-ams022510.php

Contact: Marie Guma-

m.gumadiaz@...

University of Miami

A mother's sensitivity may help language growth in children with

autism spectrum disorder

Researchers at the University of Miami show that maternal

responsiveness can predict language growth among children in the early

stages of autism

CORAL GABLES, FL (February 25, 2010)----A new study by researchers

from the University of Miami shows that maternal sensitivity may

influence language development among children who go on to develop

autism. Although parenting styles are not considered as a cause for

autism, this report examines how early parenting can promote

resiliency in this population. The study entitled, " A Pilot Study of

Maternal Sensitivity in the Context of Emergent Autism, " is published

online this month and will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal

of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

" Language problems are among the most important areas to address for

children with autism, because they represent a significant impairment

in daily living and communication, " says Messinger, associate

professor in the department of psychology at the University of Miami

(UM) College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator of a

larger study of infants at-risk for autism, which includes this study.

Maternal sensitivity is defined in the study as a combination of

warmth, responsiveness to the child's needs, respect for his or her

emerging independence, positive regard for the child, and maternal

structuring, which refers to the way in which a mother engages and

teaches her child in a sensitive manner. For example, if a child is

playing with colored rings, the mother might say, " This is the green

ring, " thus teaching the child about his environment, says Messinger.

In this study, maternal sensitivity (and primarily, sensitive

structuring) was more predictive of language growth among toddlers

developing autism than among children who did not go on to an autism

diagnosis. One possible explanation is that children with autism may

be more dependent on their environment to learn certain skills that

seem to come more naturally to other children.

" Parenting may matter even more for children with developmental

problems such as autism because certain things that tend to develop

easily in children with typical neurological development, like social

communication, don't come as naturally for kids with autism, so these

skills need to be taught, " says K. Baker, a postdoctoral fellow

at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, who conducted

the study with Messinger while at UM.

For the study, 33 children were assessed in the lab at 18, 24, 30 and

36 months of age. Some of the children had an older sibling diagnosed

with autism and were considered high risk for autism.

At the 18-month assessment, the researchers videotaped a five minute

period of mother and child free play in which the mothers were asked

to play as they would at home. Aspects of maternal sensitivity were

scored on seven-point scales ranging from absence of sensitive

behavior to extremely sensitive behavior. Children's language was

assessed at 2 and 3 years. At the 3 year visit, when the children were

old enough to be evaluated, 12 of children from the high risk group

received an autism-spectrum diagnosis.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Its

findings parallel previous treatment research indicating that when

children with autism increase their connection to the environment they

do much better, Baker says. Understanding the benefits of sensitive

structuring in the development of language among young children with

emergent autism provides scientific support for early intervention

programs that focus on parent-child interactions. " We know that

parenting doesn't cause autism. The message here is that parents can

make a difference in helping their children fight against autism, "

Baker says.

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