What is Challenging Behaviour?
The term “challenging behaviour” refers to various behaviours that put both the individual engaging in them and those around them in danger. Physical injury and exclusion from usual activities and some aspects of one’s life, such as work, schooling, and relationships, are risks for people with challenging behaviour. Due to its intensity being viewed as socially unacceptable, this behaviour can be challenging for family members, parents, teachers, carers, and other specialists.
Challenging behaviour can put individuals and those around them in danger because they may kick and hit others, throw things at them, hurt themselves, or have temper tantrums. It can also include offensive language, repetitive speech, shouting and threats followed by screaming. The non-verbal form of behaviour that challenges can bring destructiveness, withdrawal, eating objects that are inedible, swinging and pacing, and result in inappropriate sexual behaviour.
This behaviour may make it difficult for the person experiencing it to accomplish daily tasks, make friends, or focus on school. Although challenging behaviour itself is not a sign of a learning disability, it is related to learning disabilities because certain people with learning disabilities are more likely to have challenging behaviour indications than others. The given support for children, young people and adults with a learning disability and behaviour that challenges highlights the importance of treating the conditions properly.
Challenging Behaviour in Health and Social Care
Carers always have to be prepared to ensure the proper care is provided to the clients. When working with people with challenging behaviour, their interaction with others around them is vital to make them feel safe and protected in their environment.
Communication is essential when it comes to working with behaviour that challenges one’s life. When unable to communicate, frustration can overwhelm the person since they don’t feel like they can express their feelings and speak of their issues. The frustration leads to challenging behaviour, and if the client sees that their behaviour results in the wanted outcome, it will be repeatedly executed again and again. Diverting the person’s attention in the preliminary stages of the attack can prevent any challenging behaviour and lead to a positive response. Carers must help them channel their focus on hobbies or recreational activities they show interest in. If done the right way, humour can also help in these situations and significantly improve the person’s quality of life. Use these strategies if they work, and use them again the next time you see signs of escalating challenging behaviour.
It’s important to remember that the outbursts sometimes emerge as a desire for the carer’s attention. People with challenging behaviours that tend to be aggressive demand constant care, and any slight neglect of the care and support can result in an outburst. What should be kept in mind as professionals are that whenever these outbursts happen, carers should intervene in the calmest way possible to ensure the client that they will provide the needed help.
Our kind and mindful clinicians in Unique Community Services make the best efforts to ease the challenging times with their skills, patience, and understanding that people with challenging behaviours deserve. The service we provide is always delivered with the finest care and positive behaviour support to the clients and their family members.
Challenging Behaviour Types and Examples
There are different kinds of behaviours that challenge, and while some people may find specific behaviour challenging, others might not, whether young people or older people. Among the challenging behaviours, there is verbal, non-verbal and physical behaviour. People with learning disabilities also experience these difficulties, which can be mentally harmful to everyone involved.
These are some examples of distress-related behaviour which may include:
- Aggression (hitting, kicking, biting)
- Self-Injury (head banging, hand biting, eye poking)
- Shouting/Swearing (using rude or offensive language, usually because of frustration being unable to express feelings)
- Destructive Behaviour (throwing things, breaking things, tearing things up)
- Eating Inedible Objects (pen lids, bedding, glass)
- Other Behaviours (spitting, smearing, removing clothes in public, running off)
Verbal Challenging Behaviour
The verbal behaviour that challenges is one of the patterns in behaviour when the needs are not met or when this behaviour is triggered. Here is an example of how people can behave in a challenging way:
- Shouting
- Arguing
- Screaming
- Use of offensive language
- Threatening
- Using inappropriate language such as that which is sexist, racist or homophobic
- Name-calling
Non-Verbal Challenging Behaviour
All behaviour is a form of communication, and there is a reason for all behaviours. The non-verbal behaviour that challenges can be expressed in many forms, sometimes due to lack of attention or pain. Here is an example of how they manifest:
- Using intimidating facial expressions
- Clenching fists
- Walking away during an interaction
- Pointing directly at someone’s face
- Standing in an aggressive posture
- Being deliberately silent
Physical Challenging Behaviour
The physical behaviour that challenges could lead to a lower quality of life and an increased need for behaviour support since it can cause self-harm or harm to others. It could affect a person’s capacity to engage in everyday activities and impact their life quality, and that’s one of the many reasons why carers play a great role as their support system. There are 3 types of behaviours that challenge such as self-harm, directed aggression and non-person directed aggression.
Self-harm
- Eating non-food items
- Scratching and cutting
- Biting
- Pinching
- Teeth grinding
- Head banging
- Pulling hair out
Directed Aggression
- Hitting and punching
- Kicking
- Biting
- Pinching
- Grabbing and holding
- Hair pulling
- Spitting
- Throwing objects at people
- Inflicting an injury with an object
Non-person Directed Aggression
- Damage to property and possessions
- Inappropriate sexual behaviour
- Stealing
What Causes Challenging Behaviour?
Challenging behaviour is a way to interact when people can’t express their feelings, needs, interests for items or hobbies, need for support, or how sensory stimulation affects them. Most of the time, the person tries to communicate the unmet needs in other ways, often due to factors such as distress, anxiety, learning disabilities, abuse, neglect, conditions of autism, mental health problems and conditions like dementia.
Understanding the reasons for challenging behaviour is the first step in finding out how to support those in need and improve their behaviour. Each person’s challenging behaviour has a variety of unique factors. A number of elements, such as the following, could affect behaviour, and those may include:
- Biological factors (hypersensitivity, use of medication, and discomfort);
- Psychological factors (feeling of exclusion from social situations, living up to negative expectations the person believes other people have for them);
- Social factors (boredom, being ignorant of appropriate behaviour, in search of attention through socialisation, trying to exert control over a situation);
- Environmental factors (routine changes, change of carer without being warned, under and over-stimulating (bright lights, too loud, too cold or hot).
While children with autism, learning disabilities, mental health issues, and certain conditions like ADHD may show challenging behaviour, it also depends on each child as to what might be the cause of the behaviour that challenges. Their environment, genetics, and physical and mental health are all possible causes.
At Unique Community Services, we are aware that distress behaviour is commonly a way to communicate and that when a client is unable to express their needs, desires, hopes, or worries any other way, it serves as a last resort to try to exert control over the environment. The excellent news is that our team of highly trained carers is always there to offer the proper support and care to ease the process and assist the client in preventing the need to behave in a challenging way. Their heart-centred approach positively impacts our clients’ lives and their families. Contact us if you are in search of a trusted provider for complex care and support.
Functions of Challenging Behaviour
These behaviours, repeated, bring function. An examination must identify the behaviour and determine why it occurs, and only then can the necessary intervention be made. There are some common factors or “functions” that children, young people and adults create in a challenging way:
- Social Attention – to gain attention from others.
- Communication – to express their feelings to others.
- Escape/avoidance – getting away from people and situations that bring discomfort to the person.
- Feeling Unwell/In pain – letting others know how they feel in search of assistance and care that will manage their pain.
What is the Cycle of Challenging Behaviour?
Once started, the cycle of challenging behaviour can go on and on. A situation or event can lead to thoughts and feelings that are the main trigger for a particular behaviour. This behaviour escalates quickly, leading to a crisis that can bring a risk factor in a harmful way. Following the intense moments, the recovery phase starts, resulting in a more calm response.
- Trigger
Usually, a trigger occurs when something happens in the client’s environment. Each person has a different trigger, that could refer to an unmet need, an unresolved issue, or an untreated concern. It might have been something about the environment or situation that triggered an intense response.
- Escalation
The client shows an increase in the behaviour’s frequency or intensity during this phase. If the situation escalates, the person may respond physically to the trigger or develop intense feelings and anxiety.
- Crisis
The client is most likely to act in a way that could endanger their safety or the safety of others. The person may scream, destroy things, start crying, have physical contact or lose control if they harm themselves or others. The person has no control over their physical and verbal actions in the cycle.
- Recovery
The rest phase has to be rebalanced at this point. The ability to determine the consequences and encourage any signs of appropriate behaviour is vital. Restoring safe activities should be the primary goal of any treatment.
Behavioural methods use similar approaches, including applied behaviour analysis, classical conditioning, and positive behaviour support, to identify and address challenging behaviour.
ABC Charts for Challenging Behaviour
A psychologist or behavioural therapist would do a functional assessment of behaviour by observing it in terms in which it appears for challenging behaviours. It entails using the ABC technique, which involves evaluating what happens before (antecedents), during (the behaviour itself), and after the behaviour (consequence). One can start to build a theory or hypothesis about why the behaviour may occur and when it is most likely to occur after making several assessments (i.e., triggers).
- Antecedents (A): An antecedent is an event that gives rise to behaviour or what happens immediately before the behaviour occurs. An antecedent is either an occurrence that precedes a behaviour or occurs just before it does. Phases can be factors in a person’s surrounding environment. A person’s internal states could also be used as a backstory, for example, feeling neglected or being told ‘no’.
- Behaviour (B): A person’s actions are known as behaviour. Behaviours can be externally visible or internal, for example, throwing things or mental struggling. The purpose is to be concise and precise when explaining behaviour related to ABC.
- Consequences (C): Whether positive or negative, consequences can help improve, minimise, or raise the frequency of the behaviour. Typical consequences are ignoring the behaviour.
ABC charts can be beneficial for those who struggle to articulate themselves verbally. In these situations, behaviour, including self-harming, can convey the person’s needs and wants. This includes adults with dementia, brain injury clients, children and adults with autism, and children with special educational needs (SEN).
Preventing and Management of Challenging Behaviour
When it comes to children with challenging behaviour, ensuring that healthcare professionals effectively build relationships with them is undoubtedly the most effective way to ensure they learn positive behaviours and self-regulating their own behaviour. This relationship-building process should begin as early as possible, at the child’s very young age.
As a carer, you must strive to understand the reasons behind the person’s behaviour, whether a child or an older person. For example, they can experience anxiety, boredom, or discomfort. The early warning signals may help you prevent behavioural outbreaks if you can recognise them. For example, you can make arrangements for the person you are caring for to be in a smaller group or receive one-on-one care if they are feeling worried and restless while in a large group of people. Some people discover that a distraction might shift a person’s attention away from challenging behaviour and onto something else. People you care about might act in an unexpected way to capture your attention.
How Can We Help?
At Unique Community Services, the care, support and treatment we provide always focus on maintaining individual independence and local community engagement. The assistance we provide is in bettering the client’s mental and emotional health and well-being, in physical strengthening, and in helping to develop social connections. Our compassionate nurses and carers use their profound knowledge to support people with challenging behaviour and many other conditions we cover with assistance. Our team of carers are recruited from the local community to use their expertise in the area to help deliver the best care and support.
The effort we put into the health and well-being of our clients speaks to the care and support our dedicated carers provide daily. This way, we encourage them to be more independent and make them feel free to make their own choices with the assistance of our carers. Whether we are supporting you at home or in the community, our goal is to help people with complex needs with the highest standard of care. In order to ensure this, we train all our support staff members in Positive Behaviour Support and Prevention and Management of Violence and Aggression.
Our bespoke and flexible affordable support plans come with specialised support that is trusted and effective. Supporting our clients with the best standard of care means we continuously aim to find the best support workers, to set a positive environment and daily engagement to improve their quality of life.
What can our clinicians at Unique Community Services do to mitigate this kind of behaviour?
At Unique Community Services, understanding each person’s triggers, behaviour, and complex needs is essential. We tailor our strategies and develop more effective coping mechanisms that assist the client’s future efforts and independence. Our clinicians understand the underlying cause of the person’s conduct to support challenging behaviour. The key to success is getting to know your clients and encouraging them positively. Depending upon their ability level, we also strive to help them integrate into society through music and art activities. Our clinicians are highly trained in managing challenging behaviour and are familiar with the necessary procedures to protect all people involved.
We often do check-ups on our clients to make sure they are satisfied with our service. We have one goal, to help individuals have a better quality of life and be healthier and happier in their spirit. Our professionals’ skills, supporting young children or adults’ challenging behaviour difficulties, have the ability to transform people’s health problems with strategies and resources that impact one’s life.
We can ensure that you are in great hands with our team of clinicians and dedicated service. We’d love to create even more meaningful relationships with our future clients and their families because we want you to become part of our family.
Helpful Information
The term “challenging behaviour” refers to various behaviours that put both the individual engaging in them and those around them in danger. Challenging behaviour can put individuals and those around them in danger because they may kick and hit others, throw things at them, hurt themselves, or have temper tantrums.
Communication is essential when it comes to working with behaviour that challenges one’s life. When unable to communicate, frustration can overwhelm the person since they don’t feel like they can express their feelings and speak of their issues.
Our kind and mindful clinicians in Unique Community Services make the best efforts to ease the challenging times with their skills, patience, and understanding that people with challenging behaviours deserve. Our service is always delivered with the finest care and positive behaviour support to the clients and their family members.
At Unique Community Services, the care, support and treatment we provide always focus on maintaining individual independence and local community engagement.
You can contact us if you need assistance in challenging behaviour management, and we will be there to take care of your loved ones.
