Behaviours of Concern and Autism

Key Features

Many autistic people are reported to have behaviours of concern. But because this term means different things to different people it is important to define it accurately.

For some people, the term behaviours of concern is wide-ranging and refers to anything an individual may do which is inappropriate or which stops them taking part in everyday activities or affects their ability to learn and to develop. So it can include problems as diverse as refusing food, staying awake all night, wetting the bed, removing clothes in public or flicking fingers. Of course, what seems challenging to one person may seem perfectly reasonable to someone else.

For other people, the term refers only to those behaviours which are likely to cause significant harm to autistic people or to other people. So it is restricted to problems such as aggression, self injury, destruction of property, throwing temper tantrums, defiance and oppositionality, restricted and repetitive behaviours, or wandering off unsupervised.

Emerson (1995) defines behaviours of concern (which he calls challenging behaviours) as 'culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such an intensity, frequency or duration, that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities.'

Montgomery et al (2014) note that "Unless these particular behaviours are considered intense, frequent, and/or long lasting and compromise physical safety and/or significantly threaten learning, they are generally not characterized as challenging behaviours."

In individuals without an intellectual disability behaviours of concern are more likely to be categorised as offending and be dealt with by the criminal justice system.

Some autistic people claim that they don't have behaviours of concern; they just behave differently to everybody else. In their view, 'neurotypical' people are just as likely to behave strangely, for example by using idioms that autistic people can't understand.

Updated

21 Sep 2022