Challenging behaviour in students with intellectual disabilities: the role of individual and classmates' communication skills.
Strong student communication—plus a talkative peer group—predicts real drops in challenging behavior across one school year.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team followed students with intellectual disability through one school year. They tracked each child’s communication skills, the skills of every classmate, and any challenging behavior.
They used numbers and stats to see if better talking or signing predicted fewer hits, kicks, or screams later.
What they found
Kids who entered the year with stronger communication showed less challenging behavior by spring. The peer group helped too: when classmates were good communicators, everyone’s skills rose and behavior improved.
In short, your student’s own words matter, and so do the words flying around the room.
How this fits with other research
Balboni et al. (2020) saw the opposite link in adults with severe ID living in institutions. They found better adaptive skills alongside more problem behavior. The key difference is setting: the adults had multiple diagnoses and lived on wards, not classrooms.
Griffith et al. (2012) pooled hundreds of single-case trials and showed interventions can cut challenging behavior in ID, but effects swing wide. Hofmann et al. (2022) now adds a clear, low-cost path: boost everyday communication for the whole class.
Marsack et al. (2017) found social-skills classes lowered risky acts in teens with mild ID. The new data say even informal peer chatter can serve the same protective role.
Why it matters
You do not need a fancy gadget. Model clear speech, sign, or pictures all day. Praise peers when they include the target student in chat. Over months, these moments stack into measurable behavior gains.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) are at increased risk of developing challenging behaviour. Challenging behaviour may be partially explained by low individual communicative competences. However, communication involves at least two partners, thus outcomes may also vary according to each interaction partners' abilities. We therefore investigated the degree to which the interplay between individual and classmates' communication skills predicts changes in challenging behaviour among students with ID. METHODS: This study used a longitudinal design with two measurement points across one school year. Challenging behaviour and communication skills were measured by teacher reports in 1125 students with ID attending special needs schools. Applying a multilevel approach, we investigated (1) whether higher individual communication skills at the first measurement were related to a subsequent decrease in challenging behaviour and (2) whether this effect was moderated by classmates' levels of communication skills. In addition, we examined (3) if classroom communication skills were indirectly related to a decrease in challenging behaviour by influencing individual communicative abilities. RESULTS: Higher individual communication skills at the first measurement were significantly related to a decrease in general challenging behaviour over the school year. This effect was not moderated by classroom-level communication skills. However, classmates' communication skills exerted an indirect influence by enhancing individual communicative abilities. Further analyses suggested classroom contextual effects related to a decrease in several sub-domains of challenging behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The study results suggest that both individual communicative competences and those of the classroom context are relevant to understanding challenging behaviour development in ID. Perspectives for counteracting such behaviour in light of the present findings are discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2022 · doi:10.1111/jir.12922