People with intellectual disabilities (ID) often engage in problem behaviors, such as verbal or physical aggression, property destruction, or self-injury. These behaviors become a challenge for the families and for professionals. Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is a method used to identify variables that influence or maintain challenging…

Pica is a dangerous form of self-injurious behavior that occurs in people with developmental disabilities who are institutionalized. Studies also indicate that pica has led to the death of people with developmental disabilities. While a number of published studies have demonstrated that pica behavior can be decreased substantially with behavioral…

We used an organizational behavior management (OBM) approach to increase behavior intervention plans and decrease the use of mechanical restraint. First, recipients were tracked as a member of the priority group if they engaged in frequent self-injurious behavior or physical aggression toward others and/or if they had been placed in mechanical…

One-hundred seventy-three studies that employed functional assessment were evaluated with respect to types of challenging behaviors studied and the functions identified that maintained those behaviors. For most studies, two to three behaviors were targeted. Of the 38 different challenging behaviors identified, self-injurious behavior (SIB) and…

Skin-picking is a type of self-injurious behavior involving the pulling, scratching, lancing, digging, or gouging of one's own body. It is associated with social impairment, and increased medical and mental health concerns. While there are several reports showing that skin-picking is common in individuals with developmental disabilities, knowledge…

In this study, the side effects of contingent shock (CS) treatment were addressed with a group of nine individuals, who showed severe forms of self-injurious behavior (SIB) and aggressive behavior. Side effects were assigned to one of the following four behavior categories; (a) positive verbal and nonverbal utterances, (b) negative verbal and…

In contrast to the literature on shaping adaptive behavior chains, few applied studies have described procedures for identifying and treating behavior chains involving problem behavior such as self-injury. The present study expands upon past work by conducting a conditional probability analysis and within-session analysis to identify a response…

A variety of variables have been found to augment perceived social validity of behavioral interventions. In the present study, potential effects of behavioral function were evaluated. Sixty students inexperienced in work with people with mental retardation, and 60 experienced staff watched one of two carefully matched acted videos depicting…

Results of prior studies (e.g. [J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 32 (1999) 285]) showing that participants chose alternative behavior (compliance) over escape-reinforced destructive behavior when this latter response produced escape and the former response produced positive reinforcement may have been due to (a) the value of the positive reinforcer…

Multi-sensory stimulation provided in a Snoezelen room is being used increasingly for individuals with mental retardation and mental illness to facilitate relaxation, provide enjoyment, and inhibit behavioral challenges. We observed aggressive and self-injurious behavior in three groups of 15 individuals with severe or profound mental retardation…