Autism Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Autism, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, effects.

The overt aggression scale for rating aggression in outpatient youth with autistic disorder: preliminary findings.

Hellings JA, Nickel EJ, Weckbaugh M, McCarter K, Mosier M, Schroeder SR

University of Kansas Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, KS 66160, USA. JHelling@kumc.edu

Aggression is a common and costly problem in youth with developmental disabilities. Rating scales that accurately capture and measure subtypes of aggression phenomenology, frequency and severity are urgently needed, in both clinical practice and research. The authors studied the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS) in a preliminary sample of eight outpatients who participated in an ongoing placebo-controlled study of valproate for aggression in autism. Subjects' OAS aggression scores showed significant correlation with the already validated retrospectively rated Aberrant Behavior Checklist Community Scale irritability subscale. Further study of the OAS in outpatients with aggression and developmental disabilities is warranted.

Published 4 March 2005 in J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci, 17(1): 29-35.
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