Behavior Therapy for Irritability in Autism

Summary

This is a clinical trial of a novel intervention, Behavioral Therapy for Irritability and Aggression (BTIA), for adolescents on the autism spectrum. The main goals of BTIA are to help adolescents develop emotion regulation skills to handle frustration and to strengthen skills for navigating the challenging and diverse experiences associated with the transition to adulthood. The study will test whether BTIA can be helpful to adolescents on the autism spectrum and to their families.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Irritability
• Disruptive Behavior
• Anger
• Aggression
• Asperger Syndrome
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral Therapy for Irritability in Autism

The child-focused components of BTIA are organized in modules dedicated to emotion regulation, problem solving and practice of planned steps to prevent or resolve conflicts. Each session contains a set of six to seven goals, and each goal contains a menu of techniques and activities that can be used to attain this goal. In order to administer the treatment in a flexible yet reliable manner, the therapist works collaboratively with the child and his or her parents to select activities that are perceived as relevant for attaining the session's goal. The parent-focused components of BTIA include include education about the effects of antecedents and consequences on disruptive behavior, developing strategies for reducing or altering antecedent events that may lead to disruptive reactions and helping parents to use reinforcement of competent and calm responses in potentially frustrating situations.

BEHAVIORAL

Psychoeducation and Supportive Therapy (PST)

Each PST session will start with a review of events of the past week and include queries of topics such as school, interests, hobbies, and family with an overarching goal of enhancing subjective well-being. A major objective is to enables the participant to discuss his or her concerns with a therapist toward a goal of enhancing overall psychological wellbeing. Education about autism diagnosis and services is also provided to families as part of PST.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs

  collaborator FED

• Yale University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Denis Sukhodolsky, Ph.D. · Yale University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

19 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-12-10

Primary Completion

2026-02-28

Completion

2026-02-28

Countries

• United States

Study Locations