Aggressività e comunicazione nei Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico
Andrea De Giacomo, Annamaria Coppola, Gianfranco Passeri, Paola Lecce, Giuseppina Zagaria, Maria Gloria Campa, Francesco Craig
In autistic disorder, lack of aggression control could be correlated to the absence of language or the presence of severe communicative difficulties. Aggressive behaviour negatively influences adaptive functioning. Our research therefore aims to evaluate the presence of auto- and hetero-aggressive behaviours and any correlations with the presence or absence of language. Taking part in the study were a total of 90 children, referred to the Operative Unit of Child Neuropsychiatry, University of Bari «Aldo Moro», with diagnoses of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (which includes PDD-NOS, Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome), confirmed by ADI-R and ADOS tests, out of whom half lacked language and the other half had verbal skills (albeit reduced or unusual). The results obtained show that the aggressive component is mainly present in children with autism spectrum disorders associated with severe communicative difficulties. This result suggests an indicator as a tool for the prevention of and targeted therapy for countering or reducing aggressiveness in autistic patients.
Keywords
