James K. Luiselli: High Risk Challenging Behaviors in People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

High Risk Challenging Behaviors in People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) focuses on increasing one’s understanding of a variety of high risk, challenging behaviors in individuals diagnosed with IDD. The text analyzes existing as well as upcoming empirically-based assessment methods and programming to reduce such behaviors in a broad population, including children, adolescents, and adults. Behaviors include self-injury, aggression, sexual offending, health-threatening eating disorders, and criminal behavior. The book is written as a reference for a wide variety of human service professionals, including social workers, psychologists, special educators, and administrators in rehabilitation settings. Luiselli [6, 7] expresses the desire to have this book used as an advanced undergraduate and graduate text for interns in training sites. The intention is to not only educate readers about each high risk-behavior, but also teach methods of assessment and how to create personalized rehabilitation programs to ensure that individuals of all ages with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities can remain in the least restrictive environment. The specified environments include but are not limited to schools, group homes, supported worksites, and rehabilitation centers. As much as possible, the authors of each chapter foster a preventative stance on the aforementioned behaviors. Each section includes an initial chapter that examines the research as to why individuals with IDD may engage in the particular high risk, challenging behavior. Unlike many psychological texts that focus on the environment as playing a significant role in behavior, a number of introductory chapters to challenging behaviors take the topic a step further by discussing the research regarding possible biological bases of such behaviors. In the first chapter on self-injurious behavior (SIB), Symons and Kennedy [11] discuss the possibility that one factor relating to the biological basis might be that the normal homeostatic mechanisms regulating autonomic arousal is disordered in some individuals with IDD. Gardner et al. [2] also cite research that suggests aggressive behaviors toward others, if