The Effectiveness of an Attention-based Intervention for School Aged Autistic Children With Anger Regulating Problems: a Randomized Controlled Trial

The intervention "Anger Can Go!" was designed to treat anger regulation problems in autistic children aged 8 to 13 years old. The intervention consists of nine sessions of 60 minutes and is divided in four phases. Phase 1: psycho-education, affect-education and measuring anger with an anger-thermometer. This is a self-report scale presented as the drawing of a thermometer, that allows the child to indicate his level of anger, as linked to specific bodily and behavioral representations on a scale from 0 to 3. Phase 2: making a functional behavior assessment (FBA) and taking a time-out at a low anger-level (between 1 and 2 on the scale 0 to 3) to prevent aggressive outbursts. Phase 3: taking a time-out at a low anger-level (between 1 and 2 on the scale 0 to 3) to prevent aggressive outbursts, shifting attention away from aversive stimuli, to cope with the stress of the anger provoking situation. Phase 4: creating solutions to cope with an anger provoking situation.

Three psycho-educational parent group sessions (take place before the children's sessions in intervention group). Parents meet with other parents and a therapist to learn about the nature of their Expressed Emotion (EE) and how it relates to the child's aggressive behavior.