Background: Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) provides an overarching framework for supporting quality-of-life improvements for people who use challenging behaviour. Rapport, or the lack of it, is well understood as a setting factor for some challenging behaviours. Intensive Interaction is an approach that, among other possible outcomes, can…

Sherri Zummo knew she somehow needed to find a way for her son to live in the world as a person who was profoundly deaf in both ears. He was also diagnosed as legally blind, on the autistic spectrum, and intellectually delayed with other medical and physical issues. As he grew, his special needs increased, behaviors became worse, and the struggle…

The parents of a 31-year-old man with mental retardation, mental illness, and behavioral disorders describe how his relatively independent life style is maintained through comprehensive lifestyle support including friends, home, work, community connections, transportation, and family. Anecdotal accounts illustrate interventions effective with…

This report describes the experiences of one California nonprofit agency which evolved, in less than 3 years, from supporting 65 people with autism and other challenging behaviors in 13 group homes to supporting 57 people who live in their own homes. The report describes the program's initial focus on providing integrated services in the group…

Legalized gambling is growing substantially and provides both a dilemma and an opportunity for those in the health promoting professions. Gambling represents a form of economic development and, for certain segments of society, improved health and quality of life. On the other hand, gambling is a known addiction, with a host of sociological…