Adults With Developmental Disabilities

I presume that anyone reading this already understands the concept that all behaviors are a form of communication. The person who is striking out at you may just be saying, “No thank you, I don’t care to do that right now.” The person who is laughing and smiling may be saying, “Back up, I’m in a bi-polar swing. I’ve got a foot and I know how to use it!”

Our job, then, is to figure out what the person is communicating with their behavior. For a verbal person, that may be teaching them to be able to label their own behavior. Wouldn’t it be nice if a consumer could tell you that they are “mad” or that they are “frustrated.” It sure would make a difference how we would react to them. For the non-verbal person, wouldn’t it be nice if they could use sign language or an adaptive sign when they needed to use the restroom instead of throwing a water bottle at you.

How do we figure it out? Solid data collection helps. ABC assessments and motivational assessments and just good old “paying attention to the consumer” often give us the information we need. The problem with you labeling their behavior instead of teaching them to do it is that we may get it wrong, but since we’re pretty sure we got it, we stop looking for any other reason. I worked with a man whom staff had labeled as “angry.” It turned out that when he became assaultive, he was uncomfortable because he had to pass gas, and even though he was verbal, he was embarrassed to tell any one what was wrong. His way of dealing with the discomfort was to yell and turn over tables, etc. so that we would clear the room and then he could pass his gas. He wasn’t “mad” about anything. Once we knew what he was communicating, we could work with the behavior.

How do you teach a person to recognize and label their feelings? May I suggest the SNAP Curriculum?  - you knew I was going to do that, didn’t you. In the Emotions section, there are individual curriculum for Recognizing Emotions (complete with flash cards) and Dealing With Emotions. Is this the absolute answer for all consumers? Of course not. The curriculum is a tool to use along with whatever other tools you already have. But one of the strongest tools we have is a consistent message to the consumer from all staff, all the time, and the SNAP Curriculum helps you do just that.