Finding the wavelength: Tools in communication with children with autism

children with autism are notoriously poor listeners: indeed, C they are often thought to be deaj The child’s ‘theory of mind’ rrlay be inadequate, but his theo y of a listener, as well as of a listenable-to person, rnay also be deficient. Yet there i m y be a proto-theo y of mind, a proto-theo y ( f a listener and talker, on which a carefully calibrated treatment inay build. The technical issues for the psychotherapist are difficult: how can we reach a child with little or no language? How can we talk to such a childP The paper describes work with Joseph that attempted to reach the right developmental level by being both pla yJillly receptive and playfillly challenging at diflerent moinents. Both the languages of ‘wwtherese’ and yatherese’ were used.