Early attachment and maternal insightfulness predict educational placement of children with autism

•Children's IQ and interactive competence predicted their educational placement.•Insightfulness and attachment security predicted children's educational placement.•The emotional quality of the relationship had unique predictive power regarding children's educational placement.

We examined whether mothers’ insightfulness – their capacity to “see things from the child's point of view” – and children's attachment, both assessed during the preschool years, are associated with the educational placement of children with ASD in middle childhood and early adolescence beyond the prediction offered by children's IQ and interactive competence. 39 boys with autism and their mothers participated. We assessed mothers’ insightfulness, and children's attachment to their mothers, their intelligence and their interactional competencies. The results supported our hypothesis. The emotional quality of the relationship between the children and their mothers during the preschool age, as reflected in the mothers’ insightfulness and the children's attachment security, predicted children's educational placement in inclusive programs 4.5 and 8.5 years later, over and above the prediction offered by children's IQ and their interactive competence.