Self Injurious Behavior Analysis

Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD is now a common disorder in children and is typically first seen at a very young age, between 18 months and 2 years. It is currently incurable and usually remains as a life-long diagnosis. Although the cause of autism is still unknown environmental risks have been said to play a role but genetics seems to have a primary hold on the complexity this diagnose carries (Kolevzon, Lim, Schmeidler, Mortello, Cook & Silverman, 2014). Over the last few decades ASD has become more prevalent and with that has come more interest from parents, researchers, teachers, doctors and the media (Minshawi, Hurwitz, Fodstad, Biebl, Morriss & McDougie, 2014). Autism Spectrum Disorder is characterized as a neuro-development disorder

These types of behaviors can cause harm or damage to themselves or others, this includes physical or verbal aggression, tantrums, property destruction and self-injury (Minshawl, et al., 2014). This paper will focus on self-injurious behavior better known as SIB, the effects it has on the individual, its potential causes and the medications, treatments or intervention methods that can be beneficial in reducing SIB. There are numerous theories and hypothesis in relation to what causes these behaviors, included in this paper are medications, genetics, risk factors and behavioral

Typically developing children can also display SIB but previous studies have found that children diagnosed with autism have a much higher risk (Lance et al., 2014). Even at a very young age, self-injurious behaviors can be of less severity but have the potential to morph into more harmful behaviors as they get older. These behaviors can be seen in multiple forms with varying etiologies; they can debilitate, disfigure and in extreme cases cause death (Matson & LoVullo, 2008). Some examples of the most common SIB’s are self-biting, self-scratching, skin pinching, self-punching; less common consists of eye gouging, dislocating joints and knee-to-head hitting (Minshawi et al., 2014). These types of behaviors can either be episodic and brought on by specific environments and/or triggers; they can also be extremely repetitive where the frequency is over a dozen instances in just one minute (Minshawi et al., 2014). Out of all the different problem behaviors (physical/verbal aggression, tantrums) SIB is the area of highest incident, yet it is still not considered a core symptom of ASD. A reason why SIB may not be a core symptom associated with ASD is because it is not only found in autistic individuals but can be found in other disorders like speech impairments, visual or hearing impairments and other medical conditions like