Analyzing Emotion Regulation Behaviors in Children and Adolescents with Non-Specific Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (NS-IDDs) During a Game Situation.

Vy et al. (2025) pulled together all the nursing research on challenging behaviors in people with intellectual disability. They looked for papers that told nurses how to spot, measure, and reduce these behaviors. The goal was to see where nurses fit in the care team and how they can cut the overuse of calming drugs.

The review only used studies written for or by nurses. It did not test a new drug or therapy. Instead it mapped what is already known and where the gaps are.

The main message is blunt: nurses need more training and a bigger voice in research. Without these two pieces, psychotropic medicine is handed out too quickly when behavior spikes.

The papers also show that good nursing care starts with clear behavior plans and daily data. When nurses collect data, teams rely less on pills and more on supports that work.

The new review swallows earlier work whole. Lang et al. (2011) focused only on rumination and vomiting; Mélanie et al. fold those lessons into the bigger picture of all challenging behaviors. Likewise, Matson et al. (2011) proved that functional assessment finds the real triggers—attention, escape, tangible, sensory—but said little about who on the ward should run it. The 2025 paper answers: nurses should, once they are trained.

St. Joseph et al. (2022) showed that video plus rewards helps kids with IDD brush teeth or sit for a blood draw. Mélanie et al. agree and push the idea upstream: if nurses help build these plans, the same tactics can curb hitting or self-bite later.

Robinson et al. (2011) warned that mixing meds and behavior plans needs careful single-case designs. The new review flips the spotlight: even perfect design fails if the nurse handing the pill lacks training. Both papers meet at the pill-cup—one guards science, the other guards practice.

If you write behavior plans, ask: who gives the 3 pm dose? Mélanie et al. say that person needs a seat at the planning table. Start by adding one nursing goal to each plan—maybe “nurse will collect 5 data points per shift.” Share the graph at weekly team huddles. Over time the nurse sees trends first and can call for a med decrease before you do.