Developmental Group Therapy with Autistic and Other Severely Psychosocially Handicapped Adolescents

During adolescence, some of the barriers to social and emotional contact in severely handicapped autistic and other comparably developmentally disabled persons are lowered. A highly modified version of group therapy, in which multiple coleaders actively plan and direct the group process, is proposed as a method of enhancing the emotional experience of such youngsters. A case study of a developmental therapy group is presented, followed by discussion of treatment results and directions for future research.