Jaswal Vikram K, Dinishak Janette, Stephan Christine, Akhtar Nameera
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America.
Department of Philosophy, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 25;15(11):e0242661. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242661. eCollection 2020.
Autistic children do not consistently show conventional signs of social engagement, which some have interpreted to mean that they are not interested in connecting with other people. If someone does not act like they are interested in connecting with you, it may make it difficult to feel connected to them. And yet, some parents report feeling strongly connected to their autistic children. We conducted phenomenological interviews with 13 mothers to understand how they experienced connection with their 5- to 14-year-old nonspeaking autistic children. Mothers of nonspeaking autistic children represent a unique group in which to study connection because their children both may not seem interested in connecting with them and have limited ability to communicate effectively using speech, a common way people connect with each other. The mothers in this study interpreted a range of child behaviors-some unconventional, but many conventional-as signs that their children were interested in connecting with them, (re)framed child behaviors that could undermine connection as caused by factors unrelated to the relationship, and expressed several convictions that may help build and sustain connection in the face of uncertainty about the meaning of their children's behavior. Even though their autistic children may not consistently act in conventional socially oriented ways, these mothers reported perceiving their children's behavior as embedded within an emotionally reciprocal relationship.
自闭症儿童并不总是表现出传统的社交参与迹象，有些人将此解读为他们对与他人建立联系不感兴趣。如果有人表现得好像对与你建立联系不感兴趣，可能会让人难以感受到与他们的联系。然而，一些家长报告称与他们的自闭症孩子有强烈的情感联系。我们对13位母亲进行了现象学访谈，以了解她们如何体验与5至14岁无语言能力的自闭症孩子之间的联系。无语言能力的自闭症孩子的母亲是研究情感联系的一个独特群体，因为她们的孩子可能看起来对与她们建立联系不感兴趣，而且使用言语进行有效沟通的能力有限，而言语是人们相互建立联系的常见方式。本研究中的母亲们将一系列孩子的行为——有些是非传统的，但许多是传统的——解读为孩子对与她们建立联系感兴趣的迹象，将可能破坏联系的孩子行为（重新）界定为由与关系无关的因素导致，并表达了几种信念，这些信念可能有助于在面对孩子行为含义不确定的情况下建立和维持联系。尽管她们的自闭症孩子可能并不总是以传统的社交方式行事，但这些母亲报告称将孩子的行为视为处于情感互惠关系之中。
