Background: The role of support workers and other professionals in the psychotherapeutic process has been commented upon but not as yet been systematically investigated. Method: To explore their views and expectations of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for adults with intellectual disabilities, eleven paid support workers and professionals were…

For three decades after Leo Kanner's first clinical description, research progress in understanding and treating autism was minimal but since the late 1960s the growth of autism discoveries has been exponential, with a remarkable number of new findings published over the past two decades, in particular. These advances were made possible first by…

Background: Previous studies of anger management in people with intellectual disability failed to control for the effects of the number of provocative stimuli presented and lacked direct measures of behaviour and treatment integrity data. Methods: This experiment systematically assessed and presented discriminative stimuli for aggressive…

Background: There have been a number of studies of treatment for men with intellectual disabilities and sexually abusive behaviour but few follow-up studies. Our aim was to follow up men with intellectual disabilities who had attended group cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT) for sexually abusive behaviour. Method Thirty-four men (from seven…

Background: Many people with intellectual disabilities display high levels of anger, and cognitive-behavioural anger management interventions are used routinely. However, for these methods to be used optimally, a better understanding is needed of different forms of anger assessment. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of a…

Background: Fear of medical procedures in general and needles in particular can be a difficult clinical challenge to providing effective health care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Methods: A changing criterion design was used to examine graduated exposure treatment for blood-injury-injection phobia in an adult…

Background: Applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapists typically work one-to-one with children with autism for extended periods of time, which often leads to high levels of job-related stress, lower levels of job satisfaction, increased frequency of occupational "burnout" and higher than average job turnover (Journal of Autism…

Background: A gap prevails between the conceptualization of good practice in challenging behaviour management and its implementation in intellectual disability services. This study aimed to investigate staff members' perspectives of managing clients with challenging behaviours in residential services. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured…

Background: Using mechanical restraints to protect a person who engaged in dangerous self-injury was decreased by manipulation of an establishing operation involving the client choosing the staff person who would work with her. Materials and Methods: The client was a 28-year-old woman diagnosed with autism, bipolar disorder, static cerebral…

Background: People with an intellectual disability whose behaviours are perceived to be of serious harm to themselves or others are at risk of being subjected to restrictive interventions. Prevalence rates are difficult to determine, as most research is unable to draw on the results of population-level data. Method: The current study reports on…

Background: For non-disabled men, group cognitive-behaviour therapy is a successful form of treatment when men have committed sexual offences. However, men with intellectual disabilities and sexually abusive behaviour are rarely offered treatment for their sexual behaviour and little research data on the effectiveness of such treatment has been…

Background: Individuals with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience a breakdown in their community residential placement if they display "challenging" behaviour. However, some individuals with behaviour that poses a severe challenge live successfully in community services long-term, indicating that other factors are also…

Background: Interactive training (IT) is one of the two staff training components of the active support (AS) model. The present study explores how effective IT is when offered to staff divorced in time from the AS workshops, the other training component. We explored the effects of IT on resident activity engagement, challenging behaviours and…

Background: Research into self-harm among people with intellectual disabilities has focused predominantly on high frequency internally maladaptive behaviour among people whose disability is severe or profound. Research into different forms of self-harm, such as cutting or burning the skin, found in those with mild intellectual disabilities;…

Background: Persons with intellectual disability often evince challenging behaviours. Efforts have been underway for some time to develop prosocial or positive skill acquisition treatments to address challenging behaviours. However, physical/mechanical and chemical restraint is still commonly used in many clinical and community settings. Such…