Problem Behaviour as Communication

Toward a Diagnostic Intervention Model for Fostering Harmonious Interactions between Deaf-Blind Children and Their Educators

This article presents a diagnostic intervention model as a guide for designing and conducting interventions to foster harmonious interactions between deaf-blind children and their educators in various settings and explicates its theoretical and empirical foundations.

A Review of Communication Intervention Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities

This article provides a selected review of several contemporary communication intervention programs for people with developmental disabilities and severe communication impairment. Consideration of the extent and negative effects of severe communication impairment indicates the need for systematic intervention focused on teaching functional communication skills. Behaviour analysis procedures have demonstrated effectiveness for teaching functional communication skills. The major features of several behaviourally oriented communication intervention programs are reviewed. It is concluded that these programs have a sound empirical basis and demonstrated effectiveness for teaching functional communication skills to learners with developmental disabilities and severe communication impairment.

What is a Psychological Unit?

This paper considers the question “What is a psychological unit?”. The ubiquity of units in daily life and in science is considered. The assumption that the individual human being or animal is the psychological unit is examined and rejected. The units represented by the data collected in operant laboratories are interpreted as a subset of the well-defined changes that individual human beings or animals can bring about. The departure of this interpretation from the traditional interpretation in terms of the behaviour of the organism is acknowledged. The paper concludes by noting the relation of the present interpretation of operant research to the problem of identifying psychological units.

Noncontingent Application Versus Contingent Removal of Tactile Stimulation: Effects on Self-injury in a Young Boy with Multiple Disabilities

This study examined the effects of tactile stimulation on self-injurious behaviour (SIB) in a 10-year-old boy with developmental disabilities. SIB occurred at high rates during unstructured play, suggesting an automatic reinforcement, sensory stimulation function. Noncontingent application of an alternative source of tactile stimulation produced only modest reductions in SIB, but contingent removal of the objects used to obtain tactile stimulation produced clinically significant reductions.

Should we welcome a cure for autism? A survey of the arguments

Substantial research efforts have been devoted to developing a cure for autism, but some advocates of people with autism claim that these efforts are misguided and even harmful. They claim that there is nothing wrong with people with autism, so there is nothing to cure. Others argue that autism is a serious and debilitating disorder and that a cure for autism would be a wonderful medical breakthrough. Our goal in this essay is to evaluate what assumptions underlie each of these positions. We evaluate the arguments made on each side, reject those that are implausible and then highlight the key assumptions of those that remain.

International guide to prescribing psychotropic medication for the management of problem behaviours in adults with intellectual disabilities

Psychotropic medications are used regularly to manage problem behaviours among people with intellectual disabilities. This causes concern because often these medications are used out of their licensed indications in this context. The WPA Section on Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability has recently developed an evidence and consensus-based international guide for practitioners for the use of psychotropic medications for problem behaviours among adults with intellectual disabilities. This guide advises on assessment of behaviours, producing a formulation, initiation of treatment, assessment of out-come and adverse effects, follow-up arrangements, and possibility of discontinuation of treatment.

Use of noncontingent reinforcement in the treatment of challenging behavior. A review and clinical guide

Recently, noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) has been used to reduce challenging behavior in persons with developmental disabilities. In this context, NCR involves reinforcement on a fixed-time schedule irrespective of behavior. The present article reviews studies involving NCR for the treatment of challenging behavior. Based on this review, a clinical guide for the implementation of NCR is delineated. NCR appears to depend on ensuring that reinforcement matches the function of the challenging behavior. Initially, noncontingent reinforcement should be provided on a continuous basis. The schedule can then be faded from continuous reinforcement to a more appropriate level in a number of ways. NCR can also be combined with additional educationally oriented interventions to promote skill development. Given its ease of implementation and other potential advantages, NCR would appear particularly relevant for applied settings. The clinical guide may offer some assistance to practitioners.

Functional communication training for the treatment of multiply determined challenging behavior in two boys with autism

Functional communication training was used to replace multiply determined problem behavior in two boys with autism. Experiment 1 involved a functional analysis of several topographies of problem behavior using a variation of the procedures described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman. Results suggested that aggression, self-injury, and disruption were multiply determined (i.e., maintained by both attention and access to preferred objects). Experiment 2 involved a multiple-baseline design across subjects. The focus of intervention was to replace aggression, self-injury, and disruption with functionally equivalent communicative alternatives. Both boys were taught alternative "mands" to recruit attention and request preferred objects. Acquisition of these alternative communication skills was associated with concurrent decreases in aggression, self-injury, and disruption. Results suggest that multiply determined challenging behavior can be decreased by teaching an alternative communication skill to replace each assessed function of the problem behavior.