Pharmacological Intervention

Epilepsy and intellectual disability

“…An additional problem in diagnosis has been that a high proportion of people with intellectual disability have experienced long‐term exposure to drug treatment for behavioural problems ( Aman & Singh 1983; Jacobson 1988; Clark et al 1990 ; Branford 1994) which may lead to involuntary body movements, such as tardive dyskinesia, which can look like seizure activity ( Paul 1997).…”

A Study of the Knowledge that People with Intellectual Disabilities have of their Prescribed Medication

“…The prescription of psychotropic medication has received particular attention. Most work in this area has been conducted in the USA ( Aman & Singh 1983; Harper & Wadsworth 1993; Reiss & Aman 1998); however, an increasing number of British studies are appearing in the literature (e.g. Clarke et al .…”

Behavior disorders among the institutionalized mentally retarded: Challenging people, challenged practices, challenged placement

“…The most typical of these "override" medications were the neuroleptic medications, due to the ability of these medications to produce generalized sedation of behavior regardless of diagnostic etiology (Gualtieri, 1988). For these reasons, neuro-leptics quickly became the most widely used type of medication treatment among the mentally retarded residing in state residential facilities (Aman & Singh, 1983). The maintained reliance on this single class of medication speaks to the severity of the behavior disorders being addressed, their general lack of response to nonmedical treatments, and the lack of valid psychiatric diagnostic criteria for the population in question.…”