Interpreting the Evidence on Interventions With Challenging Behaviour: Theoretical, Contextual and Cultural Perspectives from New Zealand

Research on managing challenging behaviour in children and young people with disabilities is becoming increasingly complex as a guide to best practice. There continues to be an outpouring of single-case studies conducted in the traditional research methods and conceptual models of applied behaviour analysis. In contrast, there is growing recognition of the importance of context, social systems, and cultural values, not only in understanding the causes of challenging behaviour, but in the design of interventions and the evaluation of rehabilitative treatments. A ‘third wave’ of educative intervention approaches attempts to integrate these two perspectives within concepts of positive behaviour support. We offer practitioners some guidance to the extant empirical literature by bringing together the most promising themes within this rapprochement.

A renaissance in residential behavior analysis? A historical perspective and a better way to help people with challenging behavior

After a slow start, the popularity of applied behavior analysis for people with severe behavior problems peaked in the 1970s and was then battered down by the effects of methodological behaviorism, the aversives controversy, overregulation, and the inherent limitations of congregate living. Despite the ethical, technical, and conceptual advancements in behavior analysis, many people with challenging behavior live in futile environments in which the behavior analyst can only tinker. A radically behavioristic approach has become available that has the power to change these conditions, to restore the reciprocity necessary for new learning, and to bring residential behavior analysts more in contact with the contingencies of helping and teaching. The approach is consistent with alternatives that behaviorists have suggested for years to improve the image and effectiveness of applied behavior analysis, although it will take the behaviorist far from the usual patterns of practice. Finally, the approach promotes its own survival by promoting access to interlocking organizational contingencies, but its antithetical nature presents many conceptual and practical challenges to agency adoption.

Challenging Behaviours and Severe Learning Disabilities: Recent Developments in Behavioural Analysis and Intervention

Recent years have witnessed the gradual emergence of a technology of nonaversive behavioural support for people with severe learning disabilities and seriously challenging behaviours. Three key aspects of these developments are reviewed, including: the functional perspective to analysis and intervention; the incorporation of the analysis and modification of setting events into behavioural practice; and the use of experimental techniques to conduct functional analyses of the contextual control of challenging behaviours. Attention is drawn to the practical implications and limitations of these developments.