"I'm a translating body": Therapists' experiences working with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder

Working with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a challenging, complex, and often frustrating process that may elicit questions as to the effectiveness of various modes of therapeutic treatment. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of therapists working with children with ASD through in-depth interviews with 28 practicing therapists from different professional orientations. The findings converge on the therapists' perceived difficulties and modes of coping; their "discursive identification" with their clients; their concern with boundary lines on both the concrete bodily and metaphoric levels; the centrality of the body within the intersubjective encounter; and the development of "implicit bodily relational knowing," which enables empathy and connectedness, when conventional and verbal modes of communication are severely impaired.