Response to Brandaro and Stenfert Kroese regarding understanding of attachment and intellectual learning in autism

This letter to the editor responds to an article by Nicola Brandaro and Biza Stenfert Kroese (2018) entitled "Can adults with Asperger's syndrome learn about positive attachment behaviors between parents and young babies through the use of a skill-training DVD." One of the authors of this letter is an autistic parent who has successfully raised autistic children, as have many autistic parents. The authors of the letter express their concern that the article proposes that autistic adults have limited knowledge of attachment in comparison to their non-autistic peers when no data supporting this conclusion has been provided. They convey their ever increasing concerns about autism research that may perpetuate stereotypes associated with intellectual disability, and find any justified research conclusions suggesting that autistic adults might have difficulty with intellectual learning patronizing, and risk continuation of a very damaging stereotype. The letter closes with the challenge to Brandaro and Stenfert Kroese to justify their statement that 'within (their) sample and relative to their peers, people with Asperger's syndrome have limited knowledge of positive attachment behaviors'.