Investigación observacional: una experiencia de intervención en niños con TEA basada en la teoría de las neuronas espejo

The authors share their experience as researchers from an observational methodology. Both psychoanalytic treatments for children with autistic spectrum disorder ASD were based on the theory of mirror neurons. The imitative behavior was gradually introduced over twenty sessions in order to fix either lack or dysfunction of these types of neurons. Then it was developed an observational instrument which enabled explore the interaction between the therapist and the child. In the current article it is exposed the category system built ad hoc for two therapeutic dyads and the process followed for its development. The system has two sub categories: one for children and one for the therapist. The authors conclude that the observational methodology, despite its enormous complexity, is a good tool for investigating the relationship-based therapeutic processes.