Make sure that your relationship with your child with AS is based on genuine love.

Make sure that your relationship with your child with AS is based on genuine love.

A child with AS must manage not only their inner emotions but also those connected with their environment — relationships with their father and mother, brothers and sisters, and so on. Make sure that your bond is founded on sincere affection, not overwhelming emotions. Take a little distance in your reactions: this is fundamental for your child as well as for you, because many difficult relationships with a child with AS arise from emotional flooding and ultimately lead to a breakdown.

In my view, Freud misinterpreted the mother–child dynamic in the context of autism. On an energetic level, the mother may seem more intrusive: she is often deeply connected and sensitive to the emotions of the child with AS. Yet anger and frustration, perceived with heightened intensity, inevitably trigger a defensive system.

Free yourself from traditional patterns of parenting and become more of a guide; this takes nothing away from the love you have for your child. For my part, I consider all the children in the world to be my children: I feel responsible for their well-being, even if my means of supporting them are limited.