Are Autism and Aggression Connected?

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There is a common misconception that people with autism are angry and aggressive. While it is true that many children, adolescents, and adults with autism struggle with anger and aggression-  it does not mean that every person on the spectrum is inherently aggressive.

Just like their typical peers, people with autism experience different emotions because someone or something provoked those emotions.

Children, adolescents, and adults with autism tend to experience aggression more than their typically developing peers because they struggle with communication and various skills that can easily cause frustration for them. The struggle to communicate frustration and other feelings can provoke anger that becomes an outward display if it is left unchecked. This can explain why there is a common misconception that every person on the spectrum is aggressive.

However, it is simply not true. The real truth is that anyone, whether he/she has autism or not, is susceptible to aggression when feelings of helplessness are so overwhelming that a person is reduced to a fight or flight response.

Imagine feeling anxious about being in a certain place and wanting to leave that place, but you lack the communication skills to say that you want to leave. How would that make you feel? What if you were being forced to sit and participate in something that you don’t understand, and you couldn’t explain what frustrates you? How would that feel?

Chances are, these types of scenarios would frustrate and quite possibly anger anyone. Unfortunately, people on the autism spectrum are two or three times more likely to find themselves in these types of unpleasant scenarios. When these things happen to a child with autism, and they cannot communicate their frustration, it often becomes the starting point for angry outbursts and aggression that might lead to their removal from a place that they don’t want to be.

When you look at aggression and autism this way, it is easier to understand that aggression has a cause (the aversion to something) and a purpose (to be removed from the aversive setting). If aggression has a cause, then understanding the cause could help others who are close to the child with autism to avoid or resolve the aggression. We just need to find the cause.

Can You Calm or Stop Aggression in Children with Autism?

Every person on the spectrum comes with his/her own unique set of challenges and triggers that sets off anger or/and aggression. The most important thing to understand is the event that sets the aggression in motion. There are some simple steps to help you as a parent or caregiver to identify the cause or trigger of aggression:

• Take notes as to what was happening immediately before the anger or aggression started.
• Observe and record what happened during the aggression- what did it look like? Was there hitting, scratching, biting, throwing objects, self injury, or destruction of any sort?
• Write down what happened in response to the aggression. Did you send the child for a time out? Did you give the child something to distract or to calm him/her down? Did you take something away to punish him/her? What exactly happened in response to the aggression.

In the ABA world, we call this ABC data. “A” is the antecedent or what happens prior to the behavior; “B” is the behavior- what behavior occurred (which would be aggression for the purpose of this article), and “C” is the consequence- what happened in response to the behavior.

When you observe and document this type of information, it provides a visual record that will eventually reveal a pattern. For example, you might discover that every time a certain song or sound is present, the child has an outburst. Or, perhaps a certain person who may have caused frustration for the child provokes a meltdown (a teacher, a doctor, a peer, or a relative).

The pattern that is revealed becomes useful in addressing the problem behavior- aggression. So, if you discover that the sound of the dishwasher is distressing to your child (and they haven’t been able to communicate that to you previously), you can adjust the time that you turn on the appliance when the child is not home or asleep for the night. You have just reduced the number of angry outbursts by one!

If a child becomes agitated around a certain relative who has caused frustration to him/her, you can either let some time go by before attempting another visit, or you can try to create more positive events and associations with that particular relative in order to reduce the aggressive responses.

The goal is to find the source of the aggression by observing what triggers the response and then making changes to avoid the triggers that lead to the aggression.

Sometimes It’s Hard to Tell…

Keep in mind that sometimes it is difficult to determine what is triggering aggression in a child with autism.

A child with autism can suddenly be provoked to anger by the slightest disruption in their schedule or from being pulled away from something that they were interested in at the moment. With no warning signs, the child reacts in the moment to the frustration, and an outburst can occur.

Health issues like headaches, tummy aches, tooth aches, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, or sensory issues can also cause random emotional upheavals that are difficult to pinpoint.

In cases like these, taking notes can sometimes be helpful. However, teaching your child some way to communicate things like pain, overwhelm, or frustration is even more helpful.

Many children who have difficulty with verbal communication learn other ways to communicate rather quickly. PECS (picture exchange communication system), simple signs, or gestures can help a child with autism to convey feelings to a caregiver or teacher when they aren’t feeling well. If they cannot communicate these feelings, it is not uncommon to experience the impulsive anger and aggression that can result.

How Does ABA Therapy Help with Aggression?

Over the last four or five decades, Applied Behavior Analysis has been successful at reducing and eliminating different kinds of aggressive behaviors.

It is important to work through aggression at the earliest opportunity, so the child with autism has increased chances for educational success, social support, improved quality of life, reduction in stress and injury, and fewer behavior problems overall.

ABA therapy (behavioral therapy) provides a functional analysis of your child’s behaviors that identifies the causes of behaviors such as aggression. Once the causes are identified, a board certified analyst can customize a treatment plan that targets these behaviors for change.

Solving the problem of aggression is not easy. It takes careful determination of what causes the aggression, and it takes commitment from therapists and family members to provide consistent responses to aggression. Sometimes, it requires removing others from your child’s environment. Other times, it may require blocking access to another person or just simply redirecting aggression to something else rather than allowing the aggression to be directed at someone else.

Circle Care Services can help. If your child is struggling with anger and aggression, and you feel like you have tried everything, it may be time for some additional support. We are happy to provide all the support you need to you and your family.

Our professional staff can help you find the causes that lead to aggression. We use ABA therapy to teach your child more positive ways to communicate in order to reduce the frequency and need for aggressive responses, so that your child can enjoy a higher quality of life.