Essay --

Autism spectrum disorders are considered to be some of the most serious conditions in mental health of children. Many children diagnosed with Autism disorder also have intellectual disabilities. Research has shown that children diagnosed with both Autism disorder and intellectual disability often display self-injurious behaviors. (Matson & LoVullo, 2008) Self-injurious behaviors (SIB) are one of the most harmful behaviors displayed by people with various developmental disabilities. Because SIB is a major concern for children with ASD, early intervention is suggested to prevent additional damaging behaviors as the child gets older. The first step in preventing harmful behavior is to assess its function. The most common forms of these behaviors include: head banging, biting, and extreme self-rubbing and scratching. (Corte, Wolf & Locke, 1971) Self-injurious behaviors can be seen as "a class of behaviors, often highly repetitive and rhythmic, that result in physical harm to the individual displaying the behavior.† (Fee & Matson, 1992) Excessive self-rubbing or scratching may severe form of self-stimulation. The child may not be feeling normal levels of physical stimulation. The child may hurt their skin in order to obtain stimulation or increase arousal (Edelson, 1984). Self-injury is a major clinical problem that can result in s ignificant injury and even death (Hastings, 2002). Self-injurious behaviors are common in children with ASD according to research by Baghdadli, Pascal, Grisi, and Aussilloux (2003). Their findings show that 50% of children in the study experienced SIB, with 14.6% at severe levels. There are many possible reasons why a person may engage in self-injurious behavior, ranging from biochemical to the social envir... ...or change is also socially significant in their regular daily environment as well. Some behaviors are considered socially inappropriate and may even become stigmatizing to a child. Serious injurious behaviors in particular can have short and long term detrimental effects on a child and can impact their entire family. The concept of the social validity of treatments has, however, also been an important issue in behavior analysis for years. Reinforcement-based interventions, like differential reinforcement, and interventions that are relatively less intrusive are considered more traditional, and the acceptability of invasive interventions increases as problem severity increases. (Jones, K. M., & Lungaro, C. J., 2000) An important question for the present discussion is whether clients perceive interventions based on functional assessment as more socially acceptable.