Aggressive behaviors and treatable risk factors of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder.
Check sleep and ADHD signs first; fixing these can cut aggression in preschoolers with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chen and team watched the preschoolers with autism and 112 typical kids.
They counted how often each child hit others, hit self, or broke things.
Parents filled out forms about sleep, ADHD signs, and daily routines.
What they found
Kids with autism were less aggressive toward others than typical peers.
They did hurt themselves more often, though.
When a child with autism slept poorly or showed ADHD signs, aggression doubled.
How this fits with other research
Allison et al. (1980) showed that escape makes aggression worse.
Chen’s kids may look less aggressive because teachers gave fewer hard tasks.
Leung (1993) found only 1 in 5 people with learning disability act out.
Chen’s rates are even lower, matching the idea that severe aggression is rare.
TCruz-Montecinos et al. (2024) cut noise with group DRL.
Chen says first check sleep and ADHD before you try any plan.
Why it matters
Before you write a behavior plan, ask parents how the child sleeps.
A simple bedtime chart or doctor visit for ADHD can drop aggression fast.
You save hours of assessment and keep the classroom calm.
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Hand parents a 5-night sleep log and the pediatric ADHD checklist before starting any aggression assessment.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Aggressive behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are common. We conducted this study to describe the aggressive mode of preschool children with ASD and examine the associations between specific aggressive behaviors and two treatable factors: sleep problems and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. In total, 577 typically developing (TD) children and 490 children with ASD were investigated in this study. The Institute for Basic Research - Modified Overt Aggression Scale (IBR-MOAS) was used to assess aggressive behaviors. Children's social impairments, sleep problems and ADHD symptoms were also measured with specific scales. The total IBR-MOAS score was significantly higher (worse) in the TD group [4.47 (5.36)] than in the ASD group [3.47 (5.63), P = 0.004]. The aggressive modes differed between groups: when compared with each other, the TD group received higher scores on Verbal and Physical Aggression Toward Others (all P < 0.01), while the ASD group had higher scores on Physical Aggression Against Self (P = 0.006). The linear regression model demonstrated that the aggressive behaviors of children with ASD were significantly associated with two treatable factors: sleep problems and ADHD symptoms. These findings have substantial clinical implications: treatment of these two risk factors may be helpful in managing aggressive behavior in children with ASD. Autism Res 2017. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1155-1162. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2017 · doi:10.1002/aur.1751