Managing Behaviour That Challenges
Research categorised under the heading “Managing Behaviour That Challenges” covers strategies for addressing behaviours such as self-injurious behaviour (eg. head banging or biting self), assaultive behaviour (eg. kicking or hitting others) and destructive behaviour (eg. throwing classroom items or destroying IT equipment). The focus of this areas of research is to use proactive strategies to reduce behaviour that challenges.

Using Behaviour Contracts to Decrease Antisocial Behaviour in Four Boys with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder at Home and at School – Emma Hawkins, Sheri Kingsdorf, Jackie Charnock, Mariann Szabo, Edi Middleton, Jo Phillips and Grant Gautreaux
The use of a behaviour contract, a simple written agreement between pupils and teachers/parents, has been shown to be a successful strategy for managing and preventing incidents of challenging behaviour. By agreeing in advance on what reinforcer will be given to a child if their behaviour is appropriate, incidents of challenging behaviour have reduced. This paper was published in the British Journal of Special Education.
The Effect of Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviour with Self-Monitoring on Motor Stereotypy and Self-Injurious Behaviours – Natalie Leow-Dyke
This research project focused on reducing incidents of hand-biting, pinching skin on fingers/hands and flicking fingers of a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with autism by using a combination of proactive strategies. The main strategy was to reinforce intervals of time where the hand-biting and the other behaviours that challenge did not occur. A specific reinforcer was selected to address this behaviour and the participant was only able to access this reinforce if the target behaviours did not occur. The participant was also taught to monitor the intervals of time himself and he used a tick chart to record whether behaviours occurred or not. This study was submitted for the CABAS® Master Teacher Rank.