Specialised Care
FAQ Challenging Behaviour
Q.1- What is challenging behaviour?
A.1- The term "challenging behaviour" has been used to refer to the "difficult" or "problem" behaviours which may be shown by children or adults with a learning disability. Such behaviours include aggression (e.g., hitting, kicking, biting), destruction (e.g., ripping clothes, breaking windows, throwing objects), self-injury (e.g., head banging, self-biting, skin picking), tantrums and many other behaviours (e.g., running away, eating inedible objects, rocking or other stereotyped movements). Characteristically, challenging behaviour puts the safety of the person or others in some jeopardy, or has a significant impact on the person's or other people's quality of life.
Challenging behaviour is not limited to people with learning disabilities but the term has been particularly applied in this context. In general, challenging behaviour is rather more common in people with learning disabilities than in people without disabilities, though the pattern varies considerably depending on the type of behaviour being considered and the age of the people.
Q.2- Why does it happen?
A.2- There is no simple answer to this question. It is helpful to remember, however, that most people without learning disabilities display lots of challenging behaviour, very early in their lives. The "terrible twos" usually don't last but only because most 2 year olds develop a range of communication and social skills, which enable them to get what they want and need rather more easily. Many children with learning disabilities do not develop such skills to anything like the same extent and are left with much the same needs as their peers, but much less competent ways of getting them met.
Such children also may have additional limitations or difficulties which arise directly or indirectly from conditions associated with their learning disability or other impairments. These include: autism, sensory impairment and epilepsy.
As children grow they also become exposed to at least some of the educational and domestic demands made on other children but are, of course, much less able to handle them. In such circumstances challenging behaviour may be a very effective way of escaping from the situation.
In many cases of challenging behaviour, it appears to be an effective way for a person with learning disability to control what is going on around them. This may reflect their lack of more usual methods of control and the more unusual nature of the environments to which they are exposed.
Q.3- What can be done?
A.3- Challenging behaviour is not generally like an infection which can be treated. Change may take some time, especially where the behaviour is well established and it will almost certainly require changes in the way other people behave, plus it may be very susceptible to relapse. Having said all this, there is a great deal that can be done to prevent and treat challenging behaviour.
Where challenging behaviour arises from a medical condition, a sensory impairment or similar, the more such conditions can be remedied, the better. On an everyday basis carers, parents and teachers can try to ensure that the person has what they need when they need it - help, attention, food, drink, preferred activities and so on. It is very important, however, that people are also given the opportunities and the skills to get things for themselves or to ask for them,rather than their always being available "on a plate". Without the opportunities of exerting such control, people with learning disabilities will be in much poorer positions when they get into situations, where they are expected to fend for themselves and speak up for themselves rather more.
Some children do sometimes "grow out of" challenging behaviour but the histories of adults with serious challenging behaviour suggest that their behaviour generally started at a young age and simply got worse. Parents should, therefore, take their child's challenging behaviour seriously, especially if it is of a kind not usually found in a child, without a learning disability.
Faced with an individual child or adult who is already showing serious challenging behaviour, a psychologist or other practitioner is likely to want to know as much as possible about the circumstances, in which the behaviour occurs. They may try to conduct a "functional analysis" of the behaviours which sheds light on the particular needs which this person gets met through their behaviour. They may then be able to suggest ways of preventing the behaviour or ways of responding to it which, over time, reduce its frequency. If they suggest the latter, however, they are also highly likely to want to look at how the person can be taught alternative, more acceptable ways of getting their needs met. Consistent approaches of this kind carried out in a co-ordinated manner can be very effective, but the investment of time and effort required should not be underestimated.
For further information, some useful sites are included below. Click on an address to go to the site.
http://www.thecbf.org.uk
http://www.rnld.co.uk
http://www.tourettesyndrome.net
