Challenging behaviour, also known as behaviours which challenge, is defined as "culturally abnormal

behaviour Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...

(s) of such intensity, frequency or duration that the physical

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

of the person or others is placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit or deny access to the use of ordinary community facilities". "Ordinarily we would expect the person to have shown the pattern of behaviour that presents such a challenge to services for a considerable period of time. Severely challenging behaviour is not a transient phenomenon." Challenging behaviour is most often, though not exclusively exhibited by individuals with learning

developmental disabilities Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

, individuals with

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

or other mental health needs, such as

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

s or acquired brain injuries, individuals with

psychosis In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...

and by

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

, although such behaviours can be displayed by any person. The term ''challenging behaviour'' is a

euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...

Types

Common types of challenging behaviour include self-injurious behaviour (such as hitting, headbutting, biting, scratching), aggressive behaviour (such as hitting others, headbutting, shouting, swearing, screaming, scratching others, spitting, biting, punching, hair pulling, kicking), inappropriate sexualised behaviour (such as public masturbation or groping), behaviour directed at

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

(such as throwing objects and stealing) and stereotyped behaviours (such as repetitive rocking or

echolalia Echolalia is the unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person; when repeated by the same person, it is called palilalia. In its profound form it is automatic and effortless. It is one of the echophenomena, closely related to ...

Misuse

The term ''challenging behaviour'' has become subject to widespread misuse, most often as a

for violent or aggressive behaviour. In educational settings it is often used to refer to acts of disobedience, defiance, or other non-compliance with authority. This is not what the term was originally intended to refer to. Increasingly professional groups are adopting alternative terms for example ''behaviour of concern''. As part of the

euphemism treadmill A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...

, using the word ''challenged'' to describe a person, though originally intended to be a non-judgemental description, has become a derogatory term or a joke, similar to saying that a short person is "height challenged" or a bald man is " follicly challenged".

Causes

Challenging behaviour may be caused by many kinds of factors, including: *biological (pain, medication, the need for sensory stimulation) *social (boredom, seeking social interaction, the need for an element of control, lack of knowledge of community norms, insensitivity of staff and services to the person's wishes and needs) *environmental (physical aspects such as noise and lighting, or gaining access to preferred objects or activities) *psychological (feeling excluded, lonely, devalued, labelled, disempowered, living up to people's negative expectations) Challenging behaviour may also simply be a means of

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

. A lot of the time, challenging behaviour is learned and brings rewards and it is very often possible to teach people new behaviours to achieve the same aims. Behaviour analysts have focused on a developmental model of challenging behaviour. Experience and research suggests that what professionals call "challenging behaviour" is often a reaction to the challenging environments that services or others create around people with developmental disabilities, and a method of communicating dissatisfaction with the failure of services or others to listen for what kind of life makes most sense to the person, especially where services or others create lifestyles and relationships that are centred on what suits them or the service and its staff rather than what suits the person. Challenging behaviour can often be viewed as a ‘behavioural equivalent’ of a mental health problem. However, research evidence indicates that challenging behaviours and mental health problems are relatively independent conditions. A common principle in behaviour management is looking for the message an individual is communicating through their challenging behaviour: "All behaviour has meaning". This is a core in the

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (for example, Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics ...

process. Children communicate through their behaviour, especially those who have not acquired language and vocabulary skills to tell the adult what the problem is. In adults with developmental disabilities certain types of challenging behaviour can predict contact with police and hospital admission.

Behaviour response cycle

Challenging behaviours may be viewed as occurring in a cycle: * Trigger * Escalation * Crisis * Recovery Analysis of this cycle provides a foundation for using a variety of strategies to minimise the triggers of challenging behaviour, teach more appropriate behaviours in response to these triggers, or provide consequences to the challenging behaviour that will encourage a more appropriate response. Behavioural strategies such as

Applied Behaviour Analysis Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also referred to as behavioral engineering, is a behavior modification system based on the principles of respondent conditioning, respondent and operant conditioning. ABA is the applied form of behavior analysi ...

operant conditioning Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process in which voluntary behaviors are modified by association with the addition (or removal) of reward or aversive stimuli. The frequency or duration of the behavior ma ...

and positive behaviour support use similar approaches to analysing and responding to challenging behaviours. Recently, Eidetic Model of Growth (EMG) has been used with promising results.

Notes

External links