Malata di Paura: Storia di una Bambina Autistica

280 pages.

Sick with fear is Valeria’s self-definition, an autistic girl. She herself wrote it during an emotional-therapy session using facilitated communication. The expression captures, particularly well, the core of autistic disorder: symptoms such as social withdrawal, altered interpersonal communication and stereotypies appear to be linked to a pathological anxiety that prevents ordinary relationships.

This is why it can be helpful, within an overall treatment plan for autistic disorder, to address this source of suffering as well, through a psychotherapeutic approach aimed at reshaping the patient’s emotional development. With Valeria, whose verbal language was markedly impaired, this became possible through facilitated communication: a technique that enables writing via a keyboard by pressing with a single finger, supported (in this case by her mother) on the limb used for typing.

In this way, it was possible to explore and analyse Valeria’s inner world, reconstructing her story and helping her to understand and overcome her fears. Before using facilitated communication, Valeria’s developmental pathway was consistent with an intellectual disability profile. With emotional therapy through facilitated communication, her developmental trajectory changed substantially, moving closer to that of a typically developing child.