Emotion Regulation in Preschoolers With Autism and Their Parents

In the proposed study, the investigators would like to investigate the emotion regulation (ER) strategies children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) demonstrate, and the influence parents have on their children's ER. More specifically, the investigators would like to examine what are the ER mechanisms that parents use, what mechanisms of self regulation children with autism internalize, and how parents support and improve the ER capabilities of their child with ASD. These will be studied in a behavioral level, using micro-analysis of parent-child interaction, and in a physiological level, using indexes of stress control and affiliation. In addition, in order for parental ER support to be effective, it is important to consider more innate neuro-developmental difficulties children with ASD demonstrate that strongly affect their ability to regulate themselves. These include sensory regulation difficulties, temperament, attention disorders and poor executive functioning.

Hypotheses:

1. ER strategies used by children with ASD will be more poorly developed and less effective, compared to those of children in the control groups.
2. Difficult temperament and sensory regulation difficulties will hamper ER in children with ASD.
3. ER strategies of parents of children with ASD will be more poorly developed and less effective than those of parents in the control groups.
4. Good parental self-ER and parental attunement to the child will be predictive of improved ER in children with ASD, and in parent-child synchrony, both in the behavioral and in the physiological levels.