Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are more likely to be the victims of child abuse and neglect than neurotypical children. This paper explores the impact of trauma on children and families, specifically children with ASD, and takes into consideration the overlapping symptoms of attachment disorders. Due to the social, behavioural, communication, and emotion regulation deficits commonly experienced by children with ASD and the overlap with disrupted attachment, treating trauma in ASD children poses its own unique challenges. At the same time, family support and involvement in the treatment of trauma for a child with ASD is crucial to the child’s recovery. This case study explores how the narrative component of TF‐CBT was adapted using a video game called Minecraft to provide a structure for an 11‐year‐old boy with ASD and a history of abuse and neglect to process his traumatic experiences in a narrative format, with his father as his support person. As a result, the client demonstrated improvements in depression symptoms and reduced perseveration about the trauma itself. The client’s father benefitted from this process as well, in that he reworked his own thinking about his and the client’s relationships with extended family members.
Practitioner points
It is challenging to treat trauma in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder due to deficits in cognition, behaviour, communication, and emotion regulation
Symptoms of attachment disorders overlap with symptoms of ASD, which also presents a challenge to treatment
It is important to consider family history and its impact on attachment when treating trauma symptoms in a child with ASD
This method allowed for a helpful and effective processing and narration of the child’s traumatic experiences, and changes in the father’s perspective of his son’s experiences