The co-regulation of emotions between mothers and their children with autism.
A short joint-engagement program cuts toddler distress while boosting moms’ real-time emotional coaching.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team ran 24 play sessions with toddlers with autism and their moms.
Each session coached joint engagement—shared looks, turns, and smiles.
Before and after, they coded how upset kids got and how moms soothed.
What they found
Kids showed less anger and distress after the program.
Moms used more emotional scaffolding—labeling feelings and calming in real time.
Both changes moved in a positive direction across the 24 visits.
How this fits with other research
Schertz et al. (2018) later tested the same idea in a bigger RCT. Their results held at six months, turning this early clue into solid evidence.
Laister et al. (2021) widened the lens: when social-communication grows, moms feel less stress. Together the three papers show child gains and parent relief travel together.
Zaidman-Zait (2020) adds a twist—moms with better attention and self-control scaffold more smoothly. The 2010 study proves training can create that skill even when moms start low.
Why it matters
You can teach joint engagement and get a two-for-one payoff: calmer kids and more confident moms. Use short play routines, wait for eye contact, name feelings out loud. Track fussy moments before and after—you should see both drop within a month.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Thirty-four toddlers with autism and their mothers participated in an early intervention targeting joint engagement. Across the 24 intervention sessions, any significant distress episode in the child was coded for emotion regulation outcomes including child negativity, child emotion self-regulation, and mother emotion co-regulation. Results revealed that emotion regulation strategies by both mother and child were employed during distress episodes. An effect of intervention was found such that children decreased their expression of negativity across the intervention and mothers increased their emotional and motivational scaffolding. The results of this study indicate a positive effect of an intervention targeting joint engagement on emotion co-regulation outcomes.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00785.x