Self-injurious behavior is commonly observed among persons with intellectual disabilities. However, a second parallel use of this term is used in the general mental health field for self-mutilation. The authors describe these two disorders and how they differ. Characteristics of what we refer to as repetitive self-injurious behavior among persons…

The assessment of maintaining variables with the goal of developing prosocial intervention plans has become a driving force in the intellectual disabilities (ID) literature. One particularly crucial variable is whether the behavior is low or high rate and whether the challenging behavior is best characterized by self-injury or aggression. Because…

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are considered to be among the most serious of the mental health conditions. Concomitant with many cases of ASD is intellectual disability. Further compounding the disability is the fact that both conditions are known risk factors for self-injurious behavior (SIB). To date, the most effective intervention methods,…