Coplai Research Alexithymia, Emotional Understanding and Expressions Assignment

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Apr 29, 2024

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SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIORS 1 Self-Injurious Behaviors Laura Coplai Education Department, Liberty University EDUC 628_D01_202420: Communication, Language and Sensory Aspects for Autism Dr. White April 14, 2024
SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIORS 2 Self-Injurious Behaviors Introduction It is important to understand the various challenges that children with autism may go through. One of these challenges is inflicting harm upon themselves. “Self-injurious behavior refers to a series of aggressive behaviors that an individual directs towards themselves that have the potential to result in physical injury, typically in the form of tissue damage” (Steenfeldt- Kristensen, Jones, & Richards, 2020, p. 3858). These types of behaviors could be repetitive or only when something in the child’s environment triggers the behavior. Self-injurious behaviors can lead to dangerous injuries or life-threatening risks. It is only reported that about 30-40% of children with autism exhibit self-injurious behaviors. Those children with autism who present self-injurious behaviors tend to have a lower quality of life. This type of behavior is important to assess and implement some sort of intervention or strategy. Self-Injurious Behaviors . “Self-injurious behavior is particularly common in individuals with autism” (Steenfeldt- Kristensen, Jones, & Richards, 2020, p. 3858). This kind of behavior includes head banging, biting oneself, pulling their hair, scratching, and hitting hard objects or themselves. Cantin- Garside, et al., (2020) stated that those individuals who are on the autism spectrum are more likely to be hospitalized for self-injurious behavior. The risk factors for many children and adolescents who self-injure themselves including being deficit in verbal and non-verbal communication skills, as well as being unable to process their senses. “It has been speculated that the desensitization to heat, pressure and pain resulting from [autism spectrum disorder] is
SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIORS 3 compensated by gaining bodily awareness through [self-injurious behaviors]” (Adıgüzel Akman, et al., 2021, p. 66). Based on a positive or negative reinforcement, self-injury can be adjusted by changing things within the social, sensory, and material environment. “Early interventions can help prevent severe consequences and alleviate the long-term persistence of self-injurious behavior” (Cantin-Garside, et al., 2020, p. 4039). The children with autism who are experiencing self- injurious behaviors may have an excessive utilization of medication to control the behaviors. Operant conditioning procedures then become important to use to establish alternative, corrective behavior and decrease the self-injurious behavior. Interventions and Strategies When it comes to interventions for self-injurious behaviors, it is important to complete a functional assessment to make sure that there are no potential triggers of self-injurious behaviors. The initial strategy would be to see if psychopharmacological and behavior interventions could help limit the amount of self-injury. “Early childhood interventions, such as applied behavioral analysis, can support individuals with self-injurious behaviors and mitigate challenges associated with self-injurious behaviors” (Cantin-Garside, et al., 2021, p. 304). These assessments need to be continuously reevaluated. One of the strategies suggested to monitor self-injurious behavior is to have the child wear sensors that record activity beyond the clinician’s office. “Technology may also enable people with ASD to self-monitor (eg, alerting them to recognize emotional states typically leading to SIB, and proactively suggesting replacement activities), offer warnings of self-injurious behavior onset with management
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