Taking a psychoanalytic and developmental approach, Autism and Personality outlines in considerable detail the new developments in therapeutic techniques used by the Tavistock Autism Team and Workshop to treat autistic children. It also underlines the importance of support for parents and siblings, who are all too often ignored under considerable stress. The book presents fresh ideas about the importance of personality for the developmental course of the condition, and the implications for psychotherapeutic technique. Using case vignettes to illustrate the theoretical ideas emerging from the Workshop, coupled with case studies which highlight the patient's changing contact with the therapist, it gives a fascinating picture of the individuality of each child and of the sensitivity and skill required for each treatment.
Accessible to professionals and also to parents, Autism and Personality is a valuable insight into the nature and course of this condition and its treatment.

Alvarez, Reid, Introduction: Autism, Personality and the Family. Reid, The Assessment of the Child with Autism: A Family Perspective. Klauber, The Significance of Trauma and other Factors in Work with the Parents of Children with Autism. Alvarez, Addressing the Deficit: Developmentally Informed Psychotherapy with Passive, 'Undrawn' Children. Alvarez, Disorder, Deviance and Personality: Factors in the Persistence and Modifiability of Autism. Rhode, Echo or Answer? The Move Towards Ordinary Speech in Three Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Reid, Autism and Trauma: Autistic Post Traumatic Developmental Disorder. Reid, Catherine: The Wind Beneath my Wings: The Importance of Hope. Bartram, Sean: From Solitary Invulnerability to the Beginnings of Reciprocity at Very Early Infantile Levels. Pecotic, Edward: Lost and Found: From Passive Withdrawal to Symbolic Functioning. Hanson, Conor: Hold on or You'll Fall: The Struggle to Become an Ordinary Boy. Pundik, Carmen: Despot or Subject: The Discovery of Beauty in a Wilful, Passionate Child. Youell, Matthew: From Numbers to Numeracy: From Knowledge to Knowing in a Ten Year Old Boy with Asperger's Syndrome. Bungener, Becky: Motive in her Mindlessness: the Discovery of Autistic Features in a Learning Disabled Adolescent. Klauber, Warren: From Passive and Sensuous Compliance to a More Lively Independence: Limited Therapeutic Objectives with a Verbal Adolescent. Edwards, Joe: Toward Solid Ground: A Request for a Second Course of Psychotherapy in an Adolescent. Alvarez, Reid, Endpiece.