Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Irritability in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability

CBT is a behavioral intervention that consists of 12 60- to 90-minute-long weekly sessions. A modified, principles-based form of CBT will be used in this study to reduce complexity of activities during therapy sessions while retaining all key elements and principles of CBT.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). There will be two fMRI visits, 60 to 90 minute each, one before and the other after CBT. fMRI is a technique that uses magnetism to measure activity of the brain as participants perform simple tasks such as pressing the button in response to pictures. During this study, children will be asked to look at pictures of objects and press or not press the button in response to specific instruction. Participants will also look at pictures of faces and light-point displays depicted biological motion. fMRI is used as an outcome measure to explore if change in irritability is associated with change in brain responses to these tasks during fMRI.