Emotion regulation training in children with autism.

The cognitive behavioral programme '3 op en rij' was initially developped for children with MCDD (Multi Complex Developmental Disorder). MCDD implicates impaired social behavior, impaired affect regulation and thought disorders. The therapy contains 3 modules: Focusing on anger, fear and thought problems. The current study uses a randomized controlled design to test the effectiveness of the anger module on frequency, duration and intensity of temper tantrums and emotion regulation competence.

1. Frequency of temper tantrums will decrease;

2. Duration of the temper tantrums will decrease;

3. Intensity of the temper tantrums will decrease.

1. Baseline;

2. Posttest.

Treatment group:

The emotion regulation training (Baas over Boos training; BoB-training) is an individual manualized treatment program of 10 weekly sessions of approximately 1 hour each. The therapy includes recognizing emotions, applying the anger thermometer, time out procedures and anger regulation strategies while staying in an anger eliciting situation. In addition, parents participate in three parent training sessions, where they learn how to keep their own expressed emotions low and support their children in the therapy.



Waitlist-control group:

Participate in the parent-training sessions.