Autism Spectrum Disorder: Review of Common challenging behaviors and appropriate intervention strategies

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a triad of disabilities with individuals exhibiting challenges in Social-Communication, repetitive behaviors and restricted activities and interests. Its etiology is not clear but, researchers point at a complex interaction between genetics and environment. There are more boys with ASD than girls at a ratio of 4 boys: 1girl. The disorder has been in an unprecedented rate of increase in the last few decades. Currently 1 in every 59 children has ASD (in USA). One of the greatest concerns by parents, speech therapists and educationists is how to deal with challenging behaviors in learners with ASD. The main aim of this paper is to consolidate research work and expert’s opinion on what challenging behaviors entails and as well what intervention strategies exist. To achieve this, an in-depth review of research findings published in renowned journals was done. A qualitative research approach was assumed utilizing Google scholar search engine to search for terms ‘Autism Spectrum Disorders’ ‘challenging behaviors in ASD’ and ‘intervention strategies for challenging behaviors in ASD’. After this, the authors scanned through the abstracts of the articles to weigh their relevance in achieving the aim of the study. Only those articles that covered the relevant topics in an in-depth manner were considered for review. In this era of inclusive education, it is important that education is given a collaborative multidisciplinary team approach. Teaching learners with ASD or conducting therapy sessions can be difficult when challenging behaviors are exhibited. Behavior analysts are critically important in managing challenging behaviors but unfortunately we do not have enough of them to always be available when need arises. It is important to train related education stakeholders on how to identify and intervene when challenging behaviors are exhibited. A one ‘stop shop’ is necessary as provided by this article. Most common challenging behaviors include physical and verbal aggression, elopement, pica, noncompliance, property destruction, self-injury, and incontinence. From the review, contemporary intervention strategies include Applied behavior analyses, use of Picture exchange communication system and Prompting and prompt fading. The bottom line of behavior management entails laying down behavior expectations and positively reinforcing it. Inappropriate behavior cannot change unless an alternative one is introduced and reinforced.