CHALLENGING
BEHAVIOR: BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME, TAKE A
WALK
IN MY SHOES
C.
Oliver
Cerebra
Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, School of Psychology
A substantial body
of empirical research shows that challenging
behaviours, such as
aggression and self-injury, are significantly
influenced by the
broad and immediate social and material
environment. Causal
models typically draw on operant learning theory
to account for this
association with implications for assessment and
intervention. As
this explanation has the capacity to predict most
incidents of
challenging behaviour at cohort and individual levels and,
consequently,
successful intervention, it has increasingly been
accepted as a
complete and sufficient account of the determinants of
challenging behaviour.
However, there is substantial evidence that
person
characteristics are associated with challenging behaviour and
this evidence
extends from broad pervasive characteristics, such as
degree of
intellectual disability and the presence of autism spectrum
disorder, to
transient influences, such as the interaction between a
specific type of
environmental event and a specific motivational state
associated with a
genetic disorder. These characteristics warrant
examination,
explanation and assessment in order to: 1) provide a
more complete
account of challenging behaviour that incorporates all
robust empirical
findings in the research literature, 2) acknowledge
that the lived
experience of people with an intellectual disability may
differ in ways that
make challenging behaviour more understandable
and 3) increase the
effectiveness of interventions. In this presentation
relevant person
characteristics are described and a model of
challenging
behaviour that acknowledges both person and
environmental
characteristics is outlined.
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