Aggression in children with autism spectrum disorders and a clinic-referred comparison group.
Autistic kids in clinics are generally less aggressive than other referrals, so tailor your intensity accordingly.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Farmer et al. (2015) compared aggression levels in children with autism and other clinic-referred kids.
They pulled records from several clinics and counted how often each group showed hitting, kicking, or biting.
The goal was to see if autism itself raises or lowers the chance of aggressive behavior.
What they found
Kids with autism were less aggressive than the other clinic-referred children.
The difference was biggest in younger children with autism.
Older autistic kids looked more like the general clinic group.
How this fits with other research
Kaartinen et al. (2014) seems to disagree: they found autistic boys showed more serious reactive aggression than typical boys.
The clash clears up when you notice Miia split by gender and used lab tasks, while Cristan looked at all kids in real clinics.
Boudreau et al. (2015) extend the story: about one in five autistic clinic patients have drug-refractory aggression that needs heavy behavior help.
Together the papers say most autistic kids are less aggressive, but a small, severe slice will need intense plans.
Why it matters
When you get a new referral, don’t assume autism equals high aggression.
Run your usual functional assessment either way, but expect milder topographies in young kids.
Save your most powerful interventions—dense reinforcement, functional communication training, crisis plans—for the one-in-five severe subgroup flagged by Boudreau et al. (2015).
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A gap exists in the literature regarding aggression in autism spectrum disorders and how this behavior compares to other groups. In this multisite study, the Children's Scale for Hostility and Aggression: Reactive/Proactive and the Aggression subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist were rated for 414 children with autism spectrum disorder (autistic disorder, 69%; pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, 24%; Asperger's disorder, 7%) and 243 clinic-referred children without autism spectrum disorder, aged 1-21 years (mean age about 7 years). Participants were not selected for aggressive behavior. Relative to the comparison group, children with autism spectrum disorder were reported to have less aggression and were more likely to be rated as reactive rather than proactive. Among all subjects, sex was not associated with aggression; higher IQ/adaptive behavior and older age were associated with more sophisticated types of aggression, while lower scores on IQ, adaptive behavior, and communication measures were associated with more physical aggression. The interaction between demographic variables and diagnosis was significant only for age: younger but not older children with autism spectrum disorder showed less aggression than clinic-referred controls.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2012.11.004