Guided by the principle that scientific knowledge should serve to transform reality and create suitable conditions of life for all, the Portuguese Association for Relational-Historical Psychology (APPRH) founded a school named RITA LEAL (RLS), with a therapeutic purpose based on new perspectives for treating autism -perspectives quite different from instrumental and behavioral learning programs. The Rita Leal School (Leal, 1975(Leal, /2004(Leal, , 1997(Leal, , 2005(Leal, , 2010 is rooted in the theory that mental development is based on a mutually contingent emotional relationship, while it underwrites Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Mediation (1930Mediation ( /2004Mediation ( , 1934Mediation ( /2009). Learning to read is a complex process which individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) master slowly and with difficulty. We analyzed the process of learning to read of two ASD children accompanied by peers without special educational needs, aiming to pinpoint distinct aspects of their progress. We used the Observer Software Program to collect and analyze observations of their performance, which were understood as data to be classified according to previously specified codes. We believed we could demonstrate that, especially in the case of ASD children, learning is dependent on contingent responses and adequate levels of mediation. The technical team at the RLS has continuous clinical supervision. That is because we believe this supervision is what permits the team to undergo a process of de-centering, becoming more empathic and accessible to the autists. This makes the team's intervention more efficient, because it becomes more aware of each autist's individual characteristics, and therefore more available to respond to the autist's needs.Keywords: autism, contingent emotional development, mediation, zone of proximal development introduction The term "Autism" was first introduced by Paul Eugen Bleuler (1911), who described it as a symptom of schizophrenia, understood as a "shutdown of reality and (...) predominance of inner life" (Bleuler, 1911(Bleuler, /2005 Alves, T. F. Rodrigues, C. Tirone, D. Prade In 1943 Leo Kanner published the first description of child autism: "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact." He considered autism a rare neurological condition distinct from schizophrenia: "the inability to relate to others beginning in the first years of life" (p. 242). Most of the children he observed developed language, but did not employ it for communication with others (Kanner, 1943). He described them as deeply sick and isolated from society, and as the product of a toxic environment provided by their caretakers. Kanner's hypothesis, which assigns blame to parents for autism, became common in the 1940s and 1970s.Contemporaneously, Hans Asperger published an article entitled "Autistic Psychopathy in Childhood" (1944). Having observed a more diversified group, he described cases which were very similar to those presented by Kanner, and stated that autism should be...