Bettelheim
and the
Nature of Autism
Hannah Piper and Jesse Allen
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Autos means “self”
In Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) neurological
problems develop that make it difficult for a
person to communicate and form relationships
with others
Interestingly, William Crain in Theories of
Development defines autism as “a mysterious
condition in which children are totally
unresponsive to people” (pg. 317)
It is classified as a Pervasive Developmental
Disorder, where impairments exist in social
interaction, communication, and the range of
interest and activities
Onset before the age of three
Cause is unknown
Areas of Learning Affected by Autism
Autism can cause…
• Language difficulties
• Repetitive and
obsessive behaviors
• Sensory overload
• Problems with memory
and recall
*ASD ranges widely on a
spectrum of severity*
Anna
• Barry and Samahria
Kaufman’s son, Raun, was
diagnosed severely autistic
in 1973 with an IQ under 30
• Determined not to
institutionalize or “condition”
their son, they began their
own home-based program
• Raun was fully recovered in
3 years, lived a typical
childhood, and attended
Yale University
• They now run the Option
Institute and the Autism
Treatment Center of
America, with Raun as the
CEO
• Places parents as key teachers,
therapists and directors of their
own programs and utilizes the
home as the most nurturing
environment in which to help
their children.
• Suggests that respect and deep
caring is the most important
factor impacting a child's
motivation to learn
• It has made love and acceptance
the central part of its teaching
process.
• With this attitude, SRP seeks to
create bonding and a safe
environment in order to inspire
growth
Bruno
Bettelheim
Bettelheim’s Theories on Autism
• Outcome of early
interactions with social
environment, i.e. parents
and caretakers
• Lack of a developed
autonomy
• Develops the sense that his
actions are more likely to
result in indifference,
anxiety, or retaliation
• As a result, the child gives
up autonomous actions and
withdraws from the world
• “…human beings are not
shaped once and for all.” The Empty Fortress, pg 41
Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School
• Chicago
• Treatment for all children is on a
residential basis; students live in
the school full time
• When Bettelheim was the
director, the school generally
housed 45 – 50 children but never
attempted to treat more than
around four at a time
• Treatment usually lasted at least
5 years
• School’s philosophy under
Bettelheim was the provision of a
tremendous amount of love, care,
and protection - nurture the child
away from the misconception
that others wish their destruction
a “way toward convincing a person
that he is in charge of himself; that he
can and does have some say in the
functioning of his body.” – The Empty
Fortress pg. 34
Welcome to the Orthogenic School!
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Children admitted into the school
– Ages 6-14
– “free of physical disorder, but suffer from severe emotional
disturbances that have proved (or are expected to prove)
beyond the reach of the common therapeutic techniques”
(Pollack 136)
– It was Bettelheim’s sole decision when parents would see
their children again—he often saw home visits as disruptive
to development
School Day
– 9am-3pm
– while many children were in a classroom together, each
child worked at his or her own pace with a primary emphasis
on emotional well-being
– “a child who felt the work too threatening could, without fear
of censure, spend his time in class playing on the linoleum
floor with blocks or, in some cases, skip school altogether
until he felt confident enough to return” (Pollack 157)
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From his experience in the
concentration camps, he believed
that if an environment could destroy
a personality so quickly and
drastically, then he aimed to create
an environment that could repair the
“broken personalities” in his care
(Pollack 142)
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“Thus, he sought to re-create the
Orthogenic School in the reverse
image of the camps, to make it a
place where the doors were locked
against the outside but the children
could walk away at any time” (Pollack
142)
Location
Son Rise Playroom
• A relatively bare room
• Home-based
• No electronics
• Because autistic kids are
so sensitive, colors and
sounds are kept to a
minimum
• Everything a child might
need is in the room
• Often a mirror is in the
room to promote eye
contact
• One-on-one situation (in
another effort to reduce
incoming stimuli)
Bettelheim’s Orthogenic School
• “…autistic children have
so alienated themselves
from the experience of
time that only space and
its emptiness remains.
And this they try to master
through sameness.”
– The Empty Fortress 45
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Avoided things that “seemed to
mechanistic and distant” (Empty
Fortress 102)
Left the rooms bare, orderly, and
same
Encouraged artwork and fantasy
in order to allow creation for a
personal environment--control
Anna’s Playroom
Anna’s Playroom
Staff
Son-Rise Facilitators
• Most SRP ask for and
accept any volunteers willing
to commit to between 2-8
hours a week, or 2-3 sessions a
week
Bettelheim’s Counselors
• Hired young women in their
early 20s
• One scientists who observed the
school noted that while the staff
seemed highly motivated,
energetic, and devoted, they
seemed to lack a “carry over of
scientific rigor” (Pollack 252)
• Encouraged his staff not to
depend on the ‘experts’ and
textbooks more than
themselves and the children
• Encouraged staff to put
themselves in the position of the
children to attempt to
understand why they do what
they do
Paid special attention to the attitude of the staff
– Staff meetings were not only to dissect the behavior
of the children, but also the counselor’s—often
challenged them to confront themselves
– Held many individual psychoanalytic sessions with
counselors
– “the attitudes the counselors brought to their
interactions with the children often determined how
those interactions would play out” (Pollack 153)
A Closer Look at Son-Rise
Facilitators
• Like Bettelheim’s sessions with his counselors, SR
encourages weekly or even daily ‘feedback sessions’ with
the facilitators
• These sessions consists mainly of “why” questions—“why
did you do this when the child did this?” “how did you feel
in this situation”—leading the facilitator to understand his
or her own cognition and belief system in relation to
interactions with others
• Also believe that the attitude that one goes in the room
with greatly affects the interaction in the room
– 3 Es
• energy, excitement, and enthusiasm
• with the 3 Es, children are much more enticed to whatever interaction
the facilitator is presenting
• Attitudinal Points
– Loving, Accepting, NonJudgmental, Happy
– This is a rare attitude received by
autistic children
– While people claim to “love”
Anna, Barb explained that SR
finds that one can hardly love
Anna and also be disapproving
and unhappy with who she is. The
Option Institute believes that “to
love means to be happy with”
– As of today, there is no Anna that
does not ‘ism,’ or one that
completely interactive and
‘normal,’ therefore in order for
one to love Anna, they must love
the present Anna
Approach
Son-Rise Approach
• Child-led
• There are 2 periods
Anna’s life: interactive
and exclusive
– “Bonding through
acceptance,
inspiring growth”
Bettelheim’s Approach
•“job was to give the children a
childhood” (Pollack 136)
• Gave control to the students in order to
develop the sense of autonomy
• Instructed his counselor’s to come with
a “How may I serve you?” attitude
•“too often psychotherapists in the United
States assumed they knew it all and their
patients knew nothing” (Pollack 153)
• Idea that a child has his/her own
answers
• “We do not care when or what they
eat, whether they eat mainly at meals, or
in between; our chief concern is that
eating itself become a pleasure to them”
(Pollack 154)
•Toilet Training
• A modern way of responding to stimming is to
physically stop, interrupt, or playfully distract
• Pick a partner and decide which will be the
autistic child and which will be the facilitator
• ‘Autistic Child’ gets a card (rocking, flapping,
tapping, flipping pages)
• Facilitator try to interrupt or stop
• How did that feel?
Son-Rise 2 Periods
• Exclusive period
-During exclusive periods,
Anna is ‘isming,’ that is,
exclusive, repetitive
behaviors, the facilitator
practices the attitude by
joining her, i.e. “eye thing”
• SRP believes ‘isming’ to be
self-protective and selfsoothing behavior
• Showing Anna that we are
interested in what she is
interested in, further, we
are completely okay with
what she wants to do
• Through bonding in the
exclusive period we reach
Anna
Son Rise 2 Periods
• Interactive Period
– When the Anna is interactive,
her facilitators work on 4 points
(note these are not academics)
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Eye contact
Language
Interactive attention span
Flexibility
– Using the 3 Es and the methods
Anna demonstrates, the
facilitator interacts with her,
finding a motivator, and then
asking her for what they want
(eye contact, language,
flexibility).
– Celebration always follows
whether or not the request was
granted
JOINING THE EXCLUSIVE PERIOD
INTERACTIVE AND EXCLUSIVE PERIOD
Conclusion
 We found similarities between Son-Rise and Bettelheim in
matters of
 Environment – ordered, same, in control of child
 Staff – enthusiastic and loving
 Attitude – loving, accepting, and non-judgmental
 Approach – trusting the child to know how to best take care of
themselves
CRITICISMS
Son-Rise
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Son-Rise is often
criticized for not
being easily
quantitatively
understood like ABA
Bettelheim
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Many claims that Dr. B
falsified his credentials
Further, reports of Dr. B
as an abusive and
degrading employer
However, we’re not
here to discern Dr.
Bettelheim’s character,
but rather his theories in
relationship to Autism
Spectrum Disorder
“Refrigerator Mom”
Nature vs. Nurture
Bettelheim
Rousseau
Nature
Kant
Locke
Nurture