Meeting Emotional Needs in Intellectual Disability: The Developmental Approach

Abstract

Using a developmental perspective, the authors offer a new, integrated model for supporting people with intellectual disability (ID). This concept builds upon recent advances in attachment-informed approaches, by drawing upon a broader understanding of the social, emotional, and cognitive competencies of people with ID, which is grounded in developmental neuroscience and psychology. The book explores in detail how challenging behaviour and mental health difficulties in people with ID arise when their basic emotional needs are not being met by those in the environment. Using individually tailored interventions, which complement existing models of care, practitioners can help to facilitate maturational processes and reduce behavior that is challenging to others. As a result, the ‘fit’ of a person within his or her individual environment can be improved. Case examples throughout the book illuminate how this approach works by targeting interventions towards the person’s stage of emotional development. This book will be of interest to a wide range of professionals working with people with ID, including: clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, learning disability nurses, speech and language therapists, and teachers in special education settings, as well as parents and caregivers.

Developmental Delays in Socio-Emotional Brain Functions in Persons with an Intellectual Disability: Impact on Treatment and Support

“…Logical thinking, impulse control, delayed gratification, and affect regulation are important for pro-social behaviors [ 44 ]. Concomitantly, emotional states, such as empathy, friendship, loyalty, and moral thinking, may be observed [ 27 , 45 , 46 ]. The upper limbic system evolves in late childhood and adolescence and can be partly modulated by learning [ 33 ].…”

“…Currently, IQ tests focus on logical-deductive academic skills [ 23 , 24 , 51 ]. However, the IQ score does not always relate to the individual’s functioning at a specific point in time, and emotional competences, such as affect regulation, risk assessment, delayed gratification, impulse control, mentalizing abilities, and reality awareness, must also be taken into account [ 24 , 46 ]. Structured assessments addressing these abilities may be helpful to further ascertain this population and support clinicians in the calibration of treatment and support.…”

A review of recent clinical measures that can be used to support psychological therapies with adults with intellectual disabilities

“…Furthermore, the final stage of development (reality awareness) was not seen in the sample of children with ID and therefore has only been investigated in typically developing children. The current SED-S also does not mirror revisions of the Dos ˇen emotional model, as researchers have suggested that there is a 6th stage of development: social individuation (13-17years; Sappok et al, 2022). It is therefore likely that further work on the SED-S will revise the measure to include this additional stage, as well as testing the statical robustness of the SED-S in adults.…”

“…Further revisions to both measures are required to align the measures with the most recent version of the underlying psychological model. The object domain in the SED-S may be superfluous, whereas revisions are needed to include the sixth domain in the revised Došen’s model (Sappok et al , 2022). Mahler’s model may need revision to account for recent discoveries in developmental psychology, which currently question its validity and generalisability (Kiley-Hamlin et al , 2007; Dunfield et al , 2011; Kanakogi et al , 2013; Koster et al , 2016; Choi, 2002).…”

An AAIDD-informed framework for cognitive behavioral case formulation and cognitive behavior therapy for young people with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning.

“…The few publications in the literature on the implementation of (adapted) CBT with this population focus on tailoring CBT to the (neuro)cognitive characteristics of MID-BIF youth (e.g., Hronis et al, 2017Hronis et al, , 2019. However, the adaptive/social-emotional and contextual characteristics of this population also have the potential to attenuate not only treatment gains but also treatment participation (Douma, 2018;Morisse, 2021;Sappok et al, 2022;van den Bogaard et al, 2020). When working with the MID-BIF population, adaptations on multiple levels are essential.…”