Abstract
It has been shown that assistance for autistic children in their interactions with other children is beneficial for their development. Therefore, it is important to understand the nature of relationship development between autistic children and specific others, in addition to how autistic children themselves change and how the identified other affects them. This paper is a case study of an autistic boy from age 10:5 to 11:11, based on records of the boy’s activities and those of a child-care supporter. The results were as follows: (1) as the relationship progressed, the boy’s social cognition and symbolic thought also developed; (2) obsessive behavior’s strength and frequency declined and its direction became variable; and (3) relationships between the autistic boy and others expanded. It is clear that in relationship development between the autistic child and a specific other, there was a change in subjective abilities and defective traits, and in the relationship itself. In addition, the identified other had an effect on these changes as an "attachment object," "transitional object," and "autistic object."
