O engajamento afetivo como base para o desenvolvimento humano: um estudo sobre o autismo e os primórdios da comunicação social

Abstract

This study used an intersubjective developmental approach, characterizing the affective connection as the basis for human development and as a precursor of communicative skills. We intended to understand the development of autistic children from typically developing ones, localizing innate failure in the child's ability to recognize and integrate affective experiences in early infancy. A field study was conducted in order to investigate the non-verbal communication signals, comparing its occurrence between the group of children diagnosed with autism and typically developing children. The vast majority of the signs appeared in smaller quantities and qualities in the group of children with autism. In addition, we measured the affective engagement of children in the relationship and observe that, despite this being weaker in the group with autism, it does appear in the relationship with the mother. Therefore, we found out that children with autism have impaired social and emotional development; they have in their development the experience of emotional connections occurring differently from typical development