Behavior 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.

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.