About half of all children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, also have serious behavioral problems, such as irritability, aggression, and non-compliance. A new study by Yale University and a consortium of five other universities shows that parents who are given a set of specific strategies and techniques can reduce disruptive behavior in their autistic child.
The study divided the parents of 180 children with ASD and behavioral problems into two groups. One group of parents followed a 24-week training program that offered specific techniques to address their child's disruptive behavior.
"There was a structured manual that provided parents with specific instructions about things such as identifying and causes and consequences of children's misbehavior, thinking about rewards that would be appropriate for desirable behaviors, ignoring mild forms of misbehaviors, and so on and so forth," said Denis Sukhodolsky, assistant professor at the Yale Child Study Center.
The other group of parents in the study were given the latest, up-to-date information on autism spectrum disorder, but no specific instructions on how to manage their child's behavior. According to the study, the success of the parent training group was rated at 68.5 percent, compared to 39.6 percent for the parent education group.
Sukhodolsky said the specific strategies used by the parent training group in the study will be available for pediatricians and clinicians in the next three to six months. The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
