Does Autism cause violent behavior

[elme]

Last week, my 6 year old grandson was attacked by a 10 year old boy who is said to be autistic.  The boy got aggitated when my son and another little boy called his name at the after school daycare.  He knocked my grandson (the smaller of the two boys) to the ground and started choking him.  He had to be pulled off of my grandson, but there were marks left on my grandson and he was quite shaken up.  The parents of the 10 year old said that he had done that do them as well in the past.  The daycare center is suspending this 10 year old from the center and of course, I am happy to hear that - This was a serious attack that could have ended in tragedy.

I cannot find any symptoms that suggest an autistic child is violent or becomes violent.  Is this normal?  Obviously, at the parents admission, this particular child has moments of violence.  I just have never heard of this type of behavior from an autistic child.  I am "thinking" that this child has been misdiagnosed.  Yes, I am extremely upset over the attack on my grandson, but I am also concerned for this 10 year old because IF he has been misdiagnosed, he is more than likely, also receiving the wrong medications that very well could be causing the random acts of violence.

[Heiferly]

I am probably going to take a lot of flak for saying this, but I am only being honest about my experiences.  Persons who are profoundly affected by autism, generally those who have little to no communication skills whatsoever, can use violence as a means of expressing displeasure with their environment and this is seen with some regularity by those of us who work regularly with children at this end of the spectrum.  These are often sad situations where the child has for some reason not received appropriate early intervention services such as special education, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc., from a young age.  This may because of a refugee situation from a country where there simply were no services, this may be because parents were in denial and refused services, this may be because there wasn't adequate funding for services, this may even be because services were provided but were inadequate.  In rare instances, sometimes because of concomitant retardation or other disorders, early intervention just isn't enough.  The short answer is that wherever we fail to provide a human being with a means of expressing their basic needs and desires, we open the door to the possibility of that person lashing out in socially inappropriate ways.  

[Sally44]

It is hard to comment on an instance that we cannot see.  Those on the spectrum are not typically aggressive or violent.  However environmental and sensory stressors can cause them to become aggressive as can sensory stimulous that is painful and distressing to them.
I have heard of a couple of instances where a child on the spectrum has been scared of being in the presence of a baby simply because babies are unpredictable and can scream and cry suddenly.  That would be unbearable for an autistic child who had auditory sensory difficulties.  In one instance I heard of a child that would pinch the baby to make it cry so that he could 'control' when it would make that unbearable noise of crying.  In that way it was more bearable for him because otherwise it would just suddenly happen and he could not prepare himself for that sensory onslaught.  In both cases the mothers found ways of controlling this ie. wearing ear defenders, warning them if a baby was going to be present, allowing a 'way out' for the autistic child so that they aren't forced to stay in that sensory situation.
In the above case, I can't say why he did that to your son.  There will have been a reason, but it is not clear to us.  You say that your son and his friend called this other child by name.  It might be that at another time someone called his name and then did something to him or called him a name that upset him and your son calling his name triggered that memory and he reacted to that.  
But the parents should try to find out what the trigger was.  So that they are aware of any potentially dangerous situations, and so that the child can be taught coping strategies.  
When an autistic person is overwhelmed and has a meltdown, it is not the same as us getting upset.  We can control it, and reason with ourselves, and calm ourselves down.  For them it is a sudden overwhelming feeling of drowning in the emotions they are feeling at that time and they cannot control it or stop it.  When having a meltdown an autistic person would not necessarily become aggressive, however if they were approached by someone who spoke to them or touched them they might hit back because in that heightened state even a slight touch can feel like they have been hurt.  
In this case, as it has happened before, I think they need to find out what is triggering this behaviour.

[spectrumlady]

No Autism hallmark issues are language & social problems...This is serious and not a typical ASD behavior at all...This child needs to get help...That is sad.

[MJIthewriter]

I don't believe autism causes violence. It's feeling overwhelmed, panicked, and having no control, that triggers violent outbursts. Imagine being under a ton of stress all of a sudden.

Because many autistic people are often very sensitive to sound/light/etc, that feeling of being overwhelmed can occur more easily than someone who may not overwhelmed so easily.  Also it depends on verbal ability and how well the person can tell they are getting stressed. If the 10 year old is not familiar with how he feels as he's starting to get stressed out, then it's going to come all of a sudden...  If he is non-verbal, then likely he can't tell you when he's starting to get stressed.