Background: Adults with intellectual disability (ID) are at high risk of exhibiting challenging behaviors, especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are clinical and transdiagnostic variables that are largely related to the existence of these behaviors, and it is necessary to know the particularities of their role in people with…

Introduction: Emotional and behavioral problems are common in adolescents with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID). Basic Psychological Needs Theory connects fulfillment of basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence) to ill-being (mental health problems). The associations between the frustration and satisfaction…

Introduction: People with intellectual disabilities and co-occurring psychopathology have a relatively high likelihood to engage in aggressive behavior. Nevertheless, structured clinical assessment of aggressive behavior, including when and where it occurs, is scarce in this population. Methods: On three wards specializing in the care for people…

Introduction: Challenging behaviors are common in individuals with developmental disabilities and pose significant challenges to their well-being and that of their families and communities. Method: We explored the occurrence and predictors of self-injurious behavior and aggressive/destructive behavior in 372 Canadian youths (aged 4-20 years) with…

Introduction: This article describes the development of an Aggression and Restriction Observation Checklist (AROC) for use in residential and in-patient services for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). The AROC was developed in collaboration between researchers and frontline staff. It assesses self-, person-, and object-directed aggressive…

Background: The Adult Scale of Hostility and Aggression (A-SHARP) rating scale assesses the frequency/severity (problem scale) and the reactive-proactive motivation (provocation scale) of aggressive behaviors in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). Items are assigned to five subscales (Verbal Aggression, Physical Aggression, Hostile Affect,…

Introduction: Current research findings in the field of intellectual disabilities (ID) regarding the relationship between mental health problems and challenging behavior are inconclusive and/or contradictory. The aim of this study was to further investigate the putative association between these two highly prevalent phenomena in people with ID,…

Background: Individuals with intellectual disability experience high rates of bullying, but it is not known how people with specific syndromes, such as Williams syndrome (WS), experience and respond to bullying. Given their behavioral profile, including hypersociability and heightened anxiety, and their risk for experiencing other forms of…

This article presents an individual intervention combining cognitive-behavioral and behavior-analytic approaches to target severe emotion dysregulation in verbal youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) concurrent with intellectual disability (ID). The article focuses on two specific individuals who received the treatment within a therapeutic…