People with Challenging
Behaviours
Challenging behaviours means doing something other
people don't like. Examples are screaming, yelling at
people, hurting yourself or another person. It is used
to describe some people with disability. A person may
do challenging behaviours for a particular reason. As
a way of letting other people know something is wrong.
If the person is unhappy but can't talk about it, they
may get angry with themselves or other people. If the
person does not understand why they have to do
something or why they are not allowed to do something.
These are some reasons why a person does challenging
behaviours.
If a person has challenging behaviours, other
people may get scared and say the person cannot live
in the community. They may say the person needs to
live in an institution so they don't hurt themselves
or other people.
Michael Kendrick (2002) says "…individuals
portrayed as 'behaviour challenged'…are
relentlessly placed in homes that are not of their own
choosing, forced to live with other people equally
coerced into living with unrelated strangers,
carefully controlled as to their smallest actions,
regimented to conform to other people's vision of what
their lives ought to be and perceived in the most
profoundly prescriptive and pessimistic way as being
incorrigible and malicious. Such are the outcomes of a
failure to recognize that having a 'real' home, i.e.
one comparable in character to that of most ordinary
people, is a need that is fundamental to people's
well-being."
Sally Barone is a Queensland mother of a young
woman with severe disabilities including autism. She
wants families to know that people with challenging
behaviours can get supported living. Her daughter
Sarah has challenging behaviours but she moved out of
an institution into supported living.
Research
shows that challenging behaviours often get better
when people get the particular supports they need to
live in the community. The supports have to be
designed especially for the person. There is no single
support that works for everyone. There are many
different supports, depending on what works for each
person. Michael Kendrick (2002) recommends for people
with difficult behaviours, "…creating flexible
individualised supports targeted on a person-by-person
basis; not a single remedy but multiple remedies, one
person at a time."
There are many examples of people with challenging
behaviours who are living in their communities
successfully with support.
- Sally
Barone describes how her family started the move to
supported living for Sarah.
- Lucyshyn & Horner (1995) discuss the
results for one young woman with autism and
self-injuring behaviour who left an institution and
moved to supported living in the community. After
the move people saw 'substantial improvements in
Emma's behavior, community participation and social
relationships'. After 2½ years of community
living Emma was 'more alert, verbally assertive,
conversational and affectionate… more
independent, socially competent and happy.'
- Laura Broderick (1997) describes a move to
supported living for David, a young Scottish man
with challenging behaviours. People who are
important in David's life worked out a 'life plan'
for David that said what he would want in life.
Workers then helped David feel safe and relaxed,
and helped him take more control over his life.
David has moved into his own flat and he has a much
better life now.
- Karen Berkman (1993) describes the planning
needed to get supported living for Eric, who lived
in the USA in a prison section of a State
Developmental Centre. Eric now gets support from
room-mates, two small agencies, a case manager,
friends, workers in an employment agency. He now
makes his own choices, and has recreation,
opportunities for social life and he is developing
his communication skills.
- Jay
Nolan Community Services Inc. began working
with people with autism and challenging behaviours.
It now supports people with all kinds of
developmental disability.
Read
more stories
Barone S (2003). Negotiating
Supports - One Family's Experience. Queensland Parents
for People with a Disability. Family Advocacy's
Inclusion Collection. File No: 11050.
Berkman K (1993). A
home to call my own: individualising a community
lifestyle for Eric. Network, 3(2) - May be
accessed through Family Advocacy's Inclusion
Collection. File No: 10494.
Broderick L (1997). David's
Journey: From a locked ward to a life of his own.
Community Living. Vol 10. No.3 - Family Advocacy's
Inclusion Collection. File No: 10827.
Kendrick M (2002). Housing
and Support for People with "Challenging behaviour";
Some Guidance, Presentation for Disability
Services Queensland And The Queensland Department Of
Housing, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. March 11,
2002 - Kendrick Consulting.
Lucyshyn J, Olson D & Horner RH (1995).
Building an ecology of support: A case study of one
young woman with severe problem behaviors living in
the community. Journal of the Association for
Persons with Severe Handicaps (JASH). Vol 20, No 1, pp
16-30.
Steer M & Anniston J (1991). Severe behaviour:
whose problem? Interaction. Vol 5, no. 3 .
