Sleep, Communicative Ability, and Dietary Intervention as Predictors of Aggression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Philadelphia, PA

Aggression is a common behavioral issue in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Aggression is often treated with evidence-based behavioral treatments such as applied behavioral analysis and functional communication training. One form of intervention that has grown in popularity is to alter the child’s diet. The most popular dietary intervention, the Autism Diet, has been utilized as a form of behavior management by parents and guardians for children diagnosed with ASD to address aggressive behavior, however its use has not been strongly supported by research. We propose that a more beneficial way of understanding aggression in ASD is to understand aggression through the lens of the frustration-aggression hypothesis. According to the frustration-aggression hypothesis, aggressive acts can stem from aggression-activating affect caused by factors such as physical pain, irritation, and psychological discomfort. It is proposed that children with ASD turn to aggressive behavior when experiencing these irritants due to the communicative challenges they face as a part of ASD. This study examined the use of the Autism Diet, sleep disturbance, and communicative ability as predictors of aggression in children diagnosed with ASD. Use of the diet and lower communicative ability were significantly and positively correlated with aggressive episodes while sleep disturbance was not. These findings did not find support for use of the Autism Diet in reducing aggression; however, they should be interpreted with caution due to the retrospective nature of the data.