A US autism charity has produced a guide for treating severe problems with behaviour.
Charity Autism Speaks says a team of experts developed the guide to improve care.
Jacqueline Perlmeter says severely challenging behaviour leads to “substantial physical and emotional harm”
The Clinician Guide: Program Development and Best Practices for Treating Severe Behaviors in Autism document offers “unique programs” for those with “intense levels of need”, says the charity.
Areas covered
The guide covers five areas. These include an overview of challenging behaviours, screening and assessment, evidence-based practice, training and a severe behaviour tool kit.
Self-injury, including head banging, hitting, kicking and biting, pica (eating non-food items), destroying property, running away and disruptive behaviours are all touched on.
But the guide highlights how challenging behaviour can take different forms in each person.
Physical and emotional harm
Jacqueline Perlmeter is the manager of clinical programmes for Autism Speaks.
Perlmeter said when people struggle with severely challenging behaviours it can “lead to substantial physical and emotional harm to themselves and others”.
Autism Speaks developed the guide after arranging a summit on challenging behaviours in December 2020. The event included leaders in care and research, people on the autism spectrum and family members.
Perlmeter added: “This is a highly underserved segment of our community, who often cannot access the behavioural and mental health services they need, leading to worse outcomes and a higher likelihood of crisis situations.”
‘Grave disservice’
Dr Amy Lutz is the mother of a severely autistic son, Jonah, 24. She is also the vice president of the US National Council on Severe Autism.
Lutz said a lack of detail in the guide on medication and electric shock treatment does a “grave disservice” to those struggling with the most “severely aggressive and self-injurious behaviours”.
She said the most extreme behaviours are often caused by other health problems. She includes affective disorders (such as depression and bipolar disorder) or catatonia, that will “only respond to medical treatment”.
Related:
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- Behaviours of concern may relate to pain
- Bracelet can monitor autistics’ pain
- Autistics vulnerable to acid reflux
- Disruptive behaviour may be biological
- School behaviour policies may break law
- Gene link found to autistic behaviours
Published: 19 February 2023
