Difficulties in Addressing Diagnostic, Treatment and Support Needs in Individuals with Intellectual Disability and Persistent Challenging Behaviours: A Descriptive File Study of Referrals to an Expertise Centre

Abstract

Service providers may experience difficulties in providing appropriate care to optimize the functioning of individuals with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour. External consultation to identify and address the unmet support needs underlying the behaviour may be beneficial. Applying the multidimensional American Association Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) model may facilitate this approach. We aimed to describe the content and outcomes of consultation for individuals with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour referred to the Dutch Centre for Consultation and Expertise in relation to the AAIDD model. Interventions were based on the clients’ diagnostic, treatment, and support needs and were categorized according to the five dimensions of the AAIDD model. Outcomes of the consultations were assessed based on reports in the file and rated as ‘clear improvement’, ‘improvement’ or ‘no improvement or deterioration’. In two-thirds of the 104 studied files, consultees were satisfied with the improvement in functioning. Interventions targeted the difficulties of the service providers in supporting their clients and were most often applied within the Health and Context dimensions of the AAIDD model. We may conclude that consultation of an expert team may be valuable to support the care providers, and the use of the AAIDD model may be helpful to address the unmet needs to improve the functioning of individuals with challenging behaviour.

Sin Detección, Sin Denuncia Y Sin Proceso: La Vulneración De Derechos De Niñas Y Niños Con Discapacidad Intelectual En

“…La prevalencia en discapacidades invisibles o más complejas de identificar, como la DI, del desarrollo, cognitiva o mental es aún incierta en el país (Paolinelli & Milton González, 2014). Esto se relaciona con numerosos factores como el desconocimiento, el bajo entrenamiento de profesionales de la salud y la educación para llevar adelante la identificación, problemas de acceso a servicios especializados, temor en la familia o la propia persona frente a la condición, falta de alineación entre las políticas y el estándar internacional, entre muchos otros (de Kuijper et al, 2023). Procesos de análisis de datos estadísticos muy complejos han sugerido que la prevalencia de DI a nivel mundial es de 10,37/1000, con variaciones entre países siendo las tasas más altas observadas en los países de más bajos ingresos económicos (Maulik et al, 2011).…”