The Effect of Functional Play to Reduce Aggressive Behaviour in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: To determine the effect of functional play to reduce aggressive behaviour  in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

OBJECTIVES:

- To identify aggressive behaviour among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

- To administer aberrant behaviour checklist irritability subscale to assess the level of aggression in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

-To perceive the effect of functional play in reducing aggressive behaviour  in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

METHOD: The study was done among quasi-experimental design and the convenient sampling technique was adapted to select the children with Autism Spectrum Disorder between the age of 3years to 6 years. A total of 30participants were selected based on the inclusion criteria. Among which 15 were placed in the experimental group and 15 in the control group. The control group received conventional occupational therapy and the experimental group underwent functional play therapy. The pre and post tests were calculated using aberrant behaviour checklist irritability subscale.RESULT: The results indicate that there was a significant improvement in the control group compared to the experimental group after receiving conventional occupational therapy. Therefore, this study found that functional play is not as effective as conventional occupational therapy in reducing aggressive behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorder. CONCLUSION: The study was conducted to examine the effect of functional play on reducing aggressive behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorder. The study was conducted over a period of 3 months, 3 sessions per week with a duration of 45 minutes per session. A total of thirty (30) specimens were selected for this study, of which 15 participants were assigned to the control group and 15 to the experimental group. A pre-test and a post-test were carried out for both groups. Pre- and post-tests were conducted for both groups using the Irritability Subscale of the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist. The experimental group completed functional play, while the control group received only conventional occupational therapy.