Challenging Behaviour

The term `challenging behaviour' is now more commonly used and has replaced previous terms such as ‘problem behaviour’ or ‘behaviour disorder’. The reasoning is that it reflects a view that the problem is not a property of the behaving person but emerges from how the behaviour is perceived, managed and tolerated by other people. The intensity of the challenge depends not only on the nature of the behaviour but also on the skills of the carers and others in their abilities to respond to the behaviour with a view to lessen or discourage the impact of the behaviour (Emerson and McGill et all.,1994).
The existence of CB in people suffering with a learning disability can have serious detrimental consequences in their quality of life Lowe et al. (1995:595 cited in Abudarham and Hurd, 2002).The definition of CB by Emerson (1987, cited in Abudarham and Hurd, 2002) describes it as a behaviour coupled with high intensity and frequency with a propensity to seriously jeopardise the physical safety of the person and others. As a result of the behaviour there is a likelihood that this will limit or impact on access to ordinary community services or in the extreme deny access or the use of that service. This definition was further amended by Emerson (1995, cited in Abudarham and Hurd, 2002) to include ‘culturally abnormal behaviour(s)’ which highlighted the significance of considering cultural and social norms.
CB’s can be loosely divided or categorised into behaviours that are either ‘outer directed’ or ‘inner directed’. An example of outer directed behaviour could include showing or being aggressive towards another person, whilst inner directed can include self-injurious behaviour to one-self which can include self-harming with implements, head banging, burning one-self, eating and swallowing objects or matter. Lowe et al views on challenging behaviours (1995, cited in Abdurham and Hurd, 2002) reports that CB by definition be-sets both types of behaviour (due to them being