Purpose of the study
Self-stimulatory behaviors are common among children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (Cunningham & Schreibman, 2008). Aggression is also a common behavior problem among children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (Hill et al., 2014). Various scholars have suggested that an association exists between the self-stimulatory behaviors found in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and aggressive behavior, another common behavior challenge (Dominic et al., 2007 and Kanne & Mazurek, 2011). The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship that exists between the self-stimulatory behavior and aggressive behavior in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Research design
The research design to be used in the study is cross-sectional analytical research design. Using the cross-sectional analytical research design, the researcher will collect data from the participants at one point in time and will not make follow ups after the initial data collection exercise (Belli, 2008). The analytical aspect of the research design allows the researcher to go beyond the descriptive analysis of the data. The researcher will make inferences on the association between variables by using inferential statistics (Belli, 2008). This will enable the researcher to determine the association between self-stimulatory behaviors and aggressive behaviors, a feat that is central to answering the research question.
Target population and participant selection
The target population for the study is comprise of children between the ages of five and thirteen years. Typically, the children are between the kindergarten and eighth grades. The choice of a wide range is motivated by the inclusion criteria for the study and the fact that it might eliminate many children in the target population from participating in the study. The selection of the students will be done using a stratified random sampling technique (Dodd & Epstein, 2012). The researcher will divide the participants into distinct groups based on a similarity of characteristic. The grouping characteristic to be used is the grade level. From each of the groups, the researcher will draw a random sample of 10% using the systematic random sampling method (Dodd & Epstein, 2012). All the participants in the study are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. This is the inclusion criteria for participation in the study. The exclusion criterion is that the children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder should not have other developmental disorders, physical or mental.
Procedures
Instruments
The researcher will use wearable and environmental sensors as well as an aggressive behavior observation checklist to collect information on the self-stimulatory behavior and aggressive behaviors among the participants respectively (Min et al., 2009). This is a combined system that uses microcontrollers, 3-axis accelerometer, and Bluetooth modules to collect and transmit the data from the participant wearing the sensor to a central computer (Min et al., 2009). The environmental sensor that the researcher will use contains a microphone that collects sound information to corroborate information collected using the wearable sensor (Min et al., 2009). The researcher will use an intelligent machine learning algorithm to detect repetitive behavior patterns which as argued by Edelson (2017) are the self-stimulatory behaviors.
Research questions and hypotheses
The following are the research questions that will guide the study
What is the prevalence of self-stimulating behavior in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder?
What is the prevalence of aggressive problem behaviors children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders?
What is the frequency of self-stimulating behavior in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder?
What is the frequency of aggressive problem behaviors children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders?
What is the relationship between self-stimulatory behavior and aggressive problem behaviors children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders?
The following are the hypotheses that guide the study.
H0: There is no statistically significant relationship between the self-stimulatory behavior and aggressive problem behaviors children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders
H1: There is a statistically significant relationship between the self-stimulatory behavior and aggressive problem behaviors children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders
Data analysis
The analysis of data will be done using the both descriptive and inferential statistics. The inferential statistics will be used to answer research questions one through to four. More precisely, the researcher will calculate the proportion of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who present with self-stimulatory as well as the aggressive behaviors. Inferential statistics, particularly the correlation tests will be used to answer the fifth research question. The researcher will calculate the Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient.
Expected findings.
It is expected that the study will show a relatively high prevalence of self-stimulatory and aggressive behaviors in the children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. It is also expected that the study will show a high frequency of self-stimulatory and aggressive behaviors in the children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Finally, it is expected that the study will show a statistically significant, strong, and positive correlation between self-stimulatory and aggressive behaviors in the children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
References
Belli, G. (2008). Nonexperimental quantitative research. Retrieved from https://www.k4health.org/sites/default/files/migrated_toolkit_files/0470181095-1.pdf
Cunningham, A. and Schreibman, L. (2008). Stereotypy in autism: the importance of function. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. 2(3): 469-479.
Dodd, S. and Epstein, I. (2012). Practice-Based Research in Social Work: A Guide for Reluctant Researchers. New York. Routledge.
Dominick, K., Davis, N., Lainhart, J., Tager-Flusberg, H. and Folsterin, S. (2007). Atypical behaviors in children with autism and children with a history of language impairment. Research in Developmental Disabilities. 28: 145-162.
Edelson, S. (2017). Self-stimulatory behavior. Retrieved from https://www.autism.com/symptoms_self-stim
Hill, A., Zukerman, K., Hagen, A., Kriz, D., Duvall, S., van Santen, J., Nigg, J., Fair, D. and Fombonne, E. (2014). Aggressive Behavior Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Prevalence and Correlates in a Large Clinical Sample. Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders. 8(9): 1121-1133.
Kanne, S and Mazurek, M. (2011). Aggression in children and adolescents with ASD: prevalence and risk factors. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders. 41(7): 926- 937.
Min, C., Kim, Y., Twefik, A. and Kelly, A. (2009). Detection of Self-Stimulatory Behaviors of Children with Autism Using Wearable and Environmental Sensors. Journal of Medical Devices. 3(2): doi:10.1115/1.3134931
