Behavior-Analytic Approaches to Working with People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities who Develop Dementia: a Review of the Literature
Only six behavior-analytic studies guide you when IDD and dementia overlap—your data point could be the seventh.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lucock et al. (2019) hunted for behavior-analytic studies on adults who have both intellectual disability and dementia.
They checked every database they could find. They only kept studies that used ABA methods.
The search gave them six papers. That is the whole evidence base.
What they found
Only six studies exist. All are small case series or pilots.
No one has run a true experiment. No one has tested a full intervention package.
How this fits with other research
Hattier et al. (2011) already warned that behavior analysts publish almost nothing on dementia. Lucock et al. show the gap is even worse when the person also has IDD.
Aggio et al. (2018) found 16 behavior-analytic dementia papers, but most left out people with IDD. Lucock et al. narrow the lens and find only six that kept them in.
Einfeld et al. (1996) and Mace et al. (1990) are two of the six studies. They proved you can track early signs with tools like the PBHI, yet twenty years later no one built on that work.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with IDD, you will soon meet clients with dementia. The field has no manual to hand you. Track subtle behavior changes now, document everything, and share your data. You may be writing the next evidence page these families need.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Start a simple line graph of any new behavior you see in your adult clients—date on the bottom, count on the side.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Behavior analysis has made contributions in the development of evidence-based interventions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and there is a growing evidence base for behavior-analytic interventions for older adults with dementia. As there is an increased number of adults with IDD living to old age, and an increased prevalence of comorbid dementia in people with IDD, a review of the behavior-analytic contributions with this population is warranted. We searched Web of Science and PsycInfo and manually reviewed the last 20 years of five behavioral journals. Six behavior-analytic studies with people with IDD and dementia were identified, and all but one were published outside of core behavior-analytic journals. These articles were analyzed in terms of Baer, Wolf, and Risley’s (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91–97, 1968) seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis (ABA). The possible explanations and implications of these findings are discussed with consideration of the unique features of a comorbid diagnosis of IDD and dementia that may make it appropriate for increased focus in behavior-analytic research and practice.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s40617-018-0270-8