Developmental support agencies support many adults with intellectual disabilities in the community. Unfortunately, these adults often exhibit high rates of challenging behaviour, which present significant pressures on these service providers. Agencies need to develop effective means of increasing their capacity to provide quality support. Previous…

Many individuals diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are uncooperative during routine dental exams, leading to poor oral health in this population. Few studies have evaluated methodologies for preparing dental students and professionals to work effectively with patients diagnosed with IDD. In this study, experimenters…

Functional communication training (FCT) is highly effective in reducing challenging behavior and increasing appropriate communication in children with developmental disabilities. However, the challenging behavior may re-occur following successful treatment with functional communication training when the functional communication response contacts…

The occurrence of 'challenging' behavior is commonly documented amongst people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Since behavior is not only a form of communication, but often in response to environmental conditions, it stands to reason that one mechanism to reduce 'challenging' behaviors would be to draw attention to people's…

A high proportion of people with developmental disabilities engage in challenging behavior compared to the general population (McClintock, Hall, & Oliver, 2003). Functional Communication Training (FCT) is an is an evidence-based intervention to address challenging behavior (Heath et al., 2015), but many people remain unable to access effective…

The external validity of behavioral treatments for elopement (i.e. leaving supervision without permission) remains unclear because studies to date include only small samples (n = 1-3). This study quantified the overall effectiveness of behavioral treatments for elopement by retrospectively examining treatment data from all patients seen for the…

Although functional analysis (FA) remains the standard for identifying the function of problem behavior for students with developmental disabilities, traditional FA procedures are typically costly in terms of time, resources, and perceived risks. Preliminary research suggests that trial-based FA may be a less costly alternative. The purpose of…

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience significant difficulties in attention, learning, executive functions, and behavioral regulation. Emerging evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training may remediate these impairments. In a double blind controlled trial, 76 children with IDD (4-11 years) were…

Three children who displayed destructive behavior maintained by negative reinforcement received functional communication training (FCT). During FCT, the children were required to complete a demand and then to mand (touch a card attached to a microswitch, sign, or vocalize) to receive brief play breaks. Prior to and 1 to 3 times following the…

Everyone, including children with developmental disabilities, encounters stimuli they find aversive every day (e.g., the sound of a classmate tapping their pencil). These aversive stimuli may not be problematic for typically developing individuals, because they learn to behave in ways that allow them to escape or avoid this aversive stimulation.…

A limitation associated with communication-based interventions for problem behavior is the potential for requesting reinforcement at high rates. Multiple-schedule arrangements have been demonstrated to be effective for controlling rates of responding (Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001). In the current study, we extended previous research by teaching…

Utilizes fathers (N=3) and their developmentally disabled children, who ranged in age from 2 years 10 months to 4 years 5 months, to explore the impact of parent training. Also examines child compliance and inappropriate behaviors. Parent training resulted in desirable changes on a range of target behaviors. Discusses implications of the findings.…

Staff development efforts are being designed to have a greater impact on the systems in which professionals work to increase the likelihood that individual positive behavior support (PBS) plans will be effective. Statewide efforts aimed at embedding PBS into developmental disability organizations and other agencies must include longitudinal…