Longitudinal Assessment of Stereotypic, Proto‐Injurious, and Self-Injurious Behavior Exhibited by Young Children With Developmental Delays

Abstract

Twelve children (CA, 12 to 32 months) with developmental delay were observed in their homes during monthly analogue functional analysis probes to document patterns of emerging self-injurious behavior. Two patterns of emerging self-injury were observed for 5 participants: (a) The topography and functional analysis pattern remained the same, but the behavior eventually caused tissue damage; or (b) a new topography emerged that was similar to an established stereotypic motor behavior. Functional analysis results were inconclusive for the majority of target behaviors across participants due to undifferentiated responding across conditions. One participant exhibited two topographies that appeared to become sensitive to positive reinforcement over time. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future research on early intervention and prevention of self-injury.

The treatment of severe self-injurious behavior through sensory stimulation: A case report

“…In a study of an institutional population with intellectual disabilities, the most common forms of self-injurious behavior that were observed in more than 10% of the cases were self-slapping, self-scratching, head banging, selfbiting, and self-smearing (Saloviita, 2000). Similar results have been reported in other studies (Richman & Lindauer, 2005;Taylor, Oliver, & Murphy, 2011).…”

Stereotyped behaviors predicting self-injurious behavior in individuals with intellectual disabilities

“…This finding is difficult to interpret in terms of the current literature on proto-injurious behavior, given that there does not appear to be any topographical association between stereotyped behaviors that predicted SIB, especially with regard to yelling. That is, previous research (Guess & Carr, 1991;Richman & Lindauer, 2005) has suggested that some forms of SIB may evolve from topographically similar forms of stereotyped behavior such as hand flapping in the head and shoulder region evolving into head hitting.…”

“…The authors concluded that some proto-SIBs seemed to lead to SIBs of similar topographies. Richman and Lindauer (2005) followed emerging patterns of SIB in very young children with moderate-to-profound developmental delays. They confirmed that the majority of the proto-SIB remained topographically unchanged as they morphed into SIB for some of the children that developed SIB during the course of the study.…”

“…Proto-injurious behavior is viewed as a potential risk marker for emerging SIB (Furniss & Biswas, 2012;Langthorne & McGill, 2008;Petty, Allen, & Oliver, 2009;Richman & Lindauer, 2005;Symons, Sperry, Dropik, & Bodfish, 2005) under the assumption implied in the term that the intensity or frequency of that proto-injurious behavior may be shaped such that it ultimately causes tissue damage. It also implies that some kind of topographic similarity between the proto-injurious behavior and the subsequent SIB should exist.…”

Self-injurious behavior among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities

“…These reactions may inadvertently reinforce SIB through operant learning processes, increasing its future probability and establishing a maladaptive behavioral repertoire that persists. Ultimately, SIB is the product of interactions stemming from deficits secondary to the developmental disability and experiences that occasion and reinforce SIB through operant learning processes [6,29,30]. Although the processes that lead to the emergence of SIB are not fully known in general, nor can they be identified in any a given case, the variables that currently maintain SIB through reinforcement can be identified through functional behavioral assessment in the majority of cases.…”