Forms of assistance to people with intellectual disabilities with associated behavioural problems

Intellectual disabilities (ID) are disorders that begin in childhood and are characterized by intellectual difficulties as well as difficulties in conceptual, social, and practical areas of living. Behavioural problems (BP) are a complex and common problem in people with ID and present a diagnostic challenge. Forms of assistance to people with ID with associated BP include psychosocial and health interventions. Pharmacological interventions are used in case of failure of the first two and in case of serious forms of aggression and risk of injury to others or oneself. We also distinguish between proactive and reactive approaches. I anticipated that people with ID with associated BP in special needs schools and centers will receive mostly psychosocial interventions by educators in various forms on a daily basis. I also hypothesized that pharmacological interventions would be rare and used in individuals with severe and profound ID. I tested this with an online questionnaire for school professionals with a special needs program and in training, work and care centers for people with ID in Slovenia (N = 22) and with a case study where I observed a student with ID with associated BP in the 9th grade in elementary school with special needs program. The results confirmed that the mentioned population is mainly offered psychosocial interventions by pedagogical staff (p < 0.05) although they are not offered many different forms on a daily basis - 45.5 % of participants answered that they offer people with ID only counselling with individual and group talk. On a daily basis, some (36.4 %) are also offered behavioural redirection or physical activity. The results did not show a statistically significant association between degree of ID and treatment frequency (ꭓ² = 3.066; p = 0.547) so I rejected the last hypothesis. The results of the case study supported the results of the first two hypotheses. I gained additional insight into the types and number of forms of support for this population, and data on professionals who provide this support often, or they occasionally resort to various forms of proactively targeted support in coping with BP in people with ID