CLINICAL LOCATING GRID OF THE EVOLUTIONAR Y STAGES OF CHILD AUTISM

An evolutionary diagram that takes into account the development of per sonality and its structuring or restructuring was developed thanks to a better understanding of autistic disorders from a psychodynamic poin d of view through long term psychoanalytic treatment of autistic child ren. This grid is organised around the major stages of the formation o f the bodily ego which autistic children helped us understand better. The construction of space and the capacities of cognitive instrumentat ion are logically within this line of structuring. These major stages are defined: the first is the <<successful>> autistic state; the secon d is the stage where the primary skin is recovered (feeling of a circu lar envelope); the third is the symbiotic phase which includes vertica l splitting then horizontal splitting of the image of the body; finall y, the fourth is the phase of individuation/separation into a whole bo dy. At each stage the following are assessed: state of the image of th e body, of the gaze, of language, of writing, the autistic symptoms, e motional-relational manifestations, exploration of space and objects, recognition in time, the aggressive behaviours, reactivity to pain and to immune states (somatic and psychosomatic manifestations).