Emotion regulation and internalizing symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Rieffe et al. (2011) looked at how high-functioning autistic tweens handle big feelings. They compared regulation skills and mood symptoms to same-age peers without autism.

The team used surveys and check-ins to see which coping tricks each child used. They wanted to know if common positive strategies, like deep breaths or self-talk, protected against depression.

Autistic kids showed a scattered set of regulation tools. Their positive coping moves did not lower depression as much as they did for typical kids.

In plain words, the same calm-down skills worked less well for the autism group.

Nuebling et al. (2024) meta-analysis backs this up: autistic people across ages show more emotion dysregulation than any other group. Rieffe et al. (2011) is one of the studies inside that big picture.

Taylor et al. (2017) extends the timeline downward, showing preschoolers with autism already lag in using helpful regulation tricks. Together, the two papers trace a steady need for support from preschool to middle school.

Cai et al. (2019) seems to clash at first glance. Their teen sample found that pairing high cognitive reappraisal with high suppression can protect mood. Rieffe et al. (2011) saw little payoff from positive coping. The gap is age and method: Ying studied short lab tasks, while Carolien tracked real-life depression over time.

If you teach calm-down skills to autistic tweens, do not assume they will work right away. You may need to break skills into smaller steps, add visuals, and track mood data to see real change. Consider adding regulation goals to behavior plans and pairing them with explicit emotion-labeling lessons.