What Can Trigger Behaviours That Challenge and How to Prevent it?

What Is Meant by Behaviours That Challenge?

Behaviours that challenge, also known as behaviours of concern or challenging behaviours, is a term used to describe actions and reactions that may be harmful to the person portraying them and those around them. People display challenging behaviour to express their unmet needs, desires or feelings.

These behaviours might include:

Behaviours that May Hurt Others: behaviours such as hitting, biting, kicking, or shouting
Self-injurious behaviours: actions that cause harm to oneself, such as scratching or biting
Disruptive behaviours: behaviours that disrupt the functioning of individuals or their environment
Withdrawal behaviours: withdrawal from social interactions or isolating oneself from others

Remembering that everyone may portray challenging behaviours at some point is crucial. However, people with a learning disability or autism are more likely to describe these types of behaviours, and it’s essential to understand the triggers of challenging behaviour.

Common Triggers of Behaviour That Challenges

Behind every behaviour that challenges, people are trying to communicate a specific thing or an unmet need. It is also essential to understand that each person is different and unique; therefore, what may be a trigger for one person may not be for another. However, some common factors can contribute to behaviours that challenge.

Communication Difficulties

Communication difficulties can significantly contribute to behaviours that challenge. When people struggle to express their needs, desires, or emotions effectively, they may resort to alternative methods of communication, which can manifest as challenging behaviours. These behaviours serve as a way for people to express their frustration, seek attention, or indicate their discomfort or dissatisfaction.

For people with limited verbal skills or challenges with speech, the inability to clearly communicate their needs and wants can lead to frustration and a sense of helplessness. Therefore, they may resort to specific harmful behaviours to express their needs.

Furthermore, some young people with learning difficulties may experience challenges in understanding and interpreting communication from others. Difficulties in comprehension can lead to misunderstandings, confusion, or feeling overwhelmed.

Sensory Overload

Sensory overload may be a trigger for behaviours that challenge in people who experience difficulties processing sensory information. When the sensory system becomes overwhelmed, it can lead to a state of heightened stress, anxiety, or discomfort, which may result in the display of challenging behaviours as a response.

For people with sensory processing challenges, excessive sensory input can disrupt their ability to effectively filter, organise, and interpret incoming information. This can create a sense of overload, where their nervous system becomes overwhelmed, leading to a fight-or-flight response. In an attempt to regain control or alleviate the distress, people may engage in behaviours that challenge them, such as aggression, self-harming, or withdrawal.

Changes in Routine or Environment

Changes in routine can be a significant trigger of behaviour that challenges in people who rely on predictability and structure in their daily lives. For these individuals, any deviation from their established routines can cause feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, or frustration. Disrupting their familiar schedule and expectations can lead to challenging behaviours as they struggle to manage the change.

When people face changes in routine, they may exhibit resistance, non-compliance, or refusal to engage in the new activities or follow the revised schedule. This behaviour can be an attempt to regain a sense of control or maintain a sense of familiarity and predictability.

Physical Discomfort or Pain

Physical discomfort or pain can be a significant trigger for behaviour that challenges. When people experience physical discomfort or pain, they may have difficulty communicating their sensations or seeking help, especially if they have limited verbal skills or challenges with their cognitive abilities. For instance, people with learning disabilities may struggle to communicate their pain. As a result, they may experience behaviours that challenge as a way to express their distress or attempt to alleviate their discomfort.

Unidentified or unaddressed physical discomfort or pain can manifest in various ways. People may engage in self-injurious behaviours such as hitting, scratching, or biting themselves in an attempt to redirect their focus from the internal pain to an external sensation. People may also display harmful behaviours towards others as a response to their discomfort. Additionally, people may experience withdrawal or isolation, seeking solitude to minimise external stimuli that may exacerbate their pain.

Unmet Needs or Desires

Unmet needs or desires can serve as triggers for behaviours that challenge. When people feel that their needs or desires are unmet, they may resort to certain behaviours to communicate dissatisfaction, seek attention, or unconventionally fulfil those needs.

Unmet needs can vary from basic physiological needs, such as hunger, thirst, or fatigue, to psychological and emotional needs, such as a need for autonomy, social interaction, or sensory stimulation. When people cannot effectively communicate their needs or are not recognised or addressed, they may exhibit behaviours that challenge them to express their frustration and discomfort or seek assistance.

Emotional Triggers and Mental Health Factors

Emotional triggers are specific situations, events, or stimuli that evoke intense emotional responses in people with lived experience, which may lead to behavioural challenges. The challenging behaviour triggers can vary widely and include feelings of frustration, anxiety, fear, or sadness.

When people encounter these triggers, they may struggle to regulate their emotions effectively, resulting in behaviours that challenge.

Anxiety or Stress

Anxiety or stress can be significant triggers for behaviours that challenge. When people experience high levels of anxiety or stress, they may struggle to cope with these emotions, leading to the manifestation of challenging behaviours.

Anxiety or stress can overwhelm people, affecting their ability to regulate their emotions and respond adaptively to their environment. They may exhibit behaviours such as restlessness, agitation, avoidance, or withdrawal as a result of their anxiety or stress.

Frustration and Anger

When people experience frustration, they encounter obstacles or barriers that prevent them from achieving their goals or desires. This can evoke a sense of powerlessness and a loss of control, triggering a range of emotional responses, including behaviours that challenge.

Anger is often accompanied by intense feelings that can also be the reason leading to a person’s behavioural challenges.

Depression

When someone is experiencing depression, they often have challenges with a range of symptoms, including low mood, lack of motivation, and feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness. These symptoms can lead to a loss of interest in activities, social withdrawal, and difficulty functioning in daily life.

In some cases, people with depression may exhibit challenging behaviour as a way of expressing their distress.

Past Trauma

Past trauma can serve as a significant trigger for behaviour that challenges. Traumatic experiences can have a profound and lasting impact on a person’s mental health and emotional well-being. When unresolved, these traumas can manifest in various forms of behaviours that challenge.

The trauma can result from physical or emotional abuse, neglect, loss, or other distressing events that were deeply distressing and overwhelming for the person.

How Can You Identify Potential Triggers Before They Lead to Behaviour That Challenges

One can better understand how the behaviour may benefit the person by identifying the antecedent (what preceded the behaviour), describing the behaviour itself, and noting the consequence. This analysis can help reveal whether the behaviour is a way to seek attention, gain access to something, avoid something, or satisfy a sensory need.

Early warning signs of potential triggers may include sudden behavioural changes, such as heightened irritability, alterations in appearance and hygiene, or unexplained absences. Other indicators might be increased stress, desperation, and growing social isolation. These triggers may arise from memories, experiences, or events that evoke strong emotional responses. Common examples include feelings of rejection, betrayal, unfair treatment, and a lack of control. Identifying such triggers is a key component of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

The characteristics of being triggered may manifest as feelings of fear, panic, anxiety, or a sense of danger, accompanied by an increased heart rate, sweating, shortness of breath, and a strong urge to flee. Recognising these signs makes identifying and managing triggers possible before they escalate into challenging behaviours.

Preventive Strategies for Behaviour that Challenges

Preventive strategies for managing challenging behaviours are essential in various settings, including educational, healthcare, and home environments. These strategies aim to address the root causes of challenging behaviours before they escalate, thereby promoting a more positive and conducive environment for learning, growth, and interaction.

Positive Behaviour Support, as one of the strategies that focuses on preventing challenging behaviour and promoting positive behaviours, understands the underlying reasons for behaviours of concern and develops strategies to address them effectively rather than manage challenging behaviour.

Understanding Triggers

Triggers are stimuli that evoke an emotional or behavioural response, often leading to behaviours of concern. These can include unmet needs, communication difficulties, sensory overload, changes in routine, physical discomfort, and emotional distress. Sensory overload often triggers behavioural challenges in people who experience difficulty processing sensory information. Distress may arise from overstimulation in the environment, contributing to such difficulties.

Besides sensory overload, people can experience physical discomfort or pain, emotional triggers and mental health factors that may be associated with behaviour that challenges.

⇒ Read more about Types and Examples of Challenging Behaviours

Person-centred Approach

Person-centred care is tailoring care to suit a person’s interests, abilities, personality, health, and social history. Ensuring that care is both meaningful and relevant to the person helps address their specific needs and preferences, which can reduce the occurrence of behaviours of concern.

A key principle of this approach is treating people with dignity and respect, recognising their history, culture, and lifestyle, and viewing situations from their perspective. Respecting a person’s dignity and autonomy is vital in creating a supportive environment that minimises the likelihood of challenging behaviours. It’s crucial to involve the person receiving care and their family and carers in developing the care plan. Their insights and understanding are invaluable in creating an appropriate care plan. This collaborative approach ensures a more comprehensive and supportive care setting.

Preventive strategies within the person-centred approach:

Primary Intervention (therapeutic support)
Capable Environments model of support (modifying the environment to create a supportive and structured space that can be highly effective)
Skill Development (teaching new skills to support the right of choice and communication needs)
Positive Reinforcement (providing positive consequences for specific behaviours, increasing the likelihood of those behaviours being repeated in the future)

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is a comprehensive approach to behaviour management that is rooted in the principles of applied behaviour analysis (ABA). It is designed to support people who experience behaviours of concern, increase their quality of life, and decrease the frequency and severity of the behavioural challenges they face. PBS is considered a proactive and preventive strategy because it focuses on teaching new skills and altering environments to prevent challenging behaviours before they occur.

A key component of PBS is conducting a functional assessment or functional behaviour analysis (FBA). This assessment aims to identify the function or purpose behind behavioural challenges. By understanding what the person gains from the behaviour, strategies for positive outcomes can be developed to teach more appropriate behaviours that serve the same function.

Multimedia Support

Multimedia support, including tools like Talking Mats and visual stories, is a preventive strategy for managing behaviours of concern. These tools leverage visual and interactive elements to enhance communication, understanding, and engagement, particularly for people with communication difficulties.

We want you to meet Benjamin Andrews, our Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) and multimedia specialist. As our multimedia specialist, Benjamin uses his skills to craft engaging content and connect with and inspire the people we support through visual stories and multiple multimedia techniques.

Learn how the right person-centric and multimedia support enabled Lisa to leave the hospital after 27 years and move into her own home. Also, hear what Ben has to say about the multimedia support he provides across the family of organisations of Catalyst Care Group.

Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (CBI)

Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (CBI) is a well-structured, evidence-based method to alter behaviours that negatively impact people’s mental health and thought patterns. It is commonly employed to tackle various mental health difficulties and behavioural challenges.

CBI focuses on helping people develop coping mechanisms to manage stress and emotional difficulties. These methods may involve relaxation practices, problem-solving abilities, and techniques to improve self-regulation and build resilience. By teaching people to evaluate their own thoughts and feelings, CBI enables them to identify when negative emotions are intensifying and apply strategies to alter their mindset and behaviour. Cognitive restructuring involves challenging and replacing unhelpful thought patterns with more positive alternatives.

Leaf Complex Care Uses Holistic Approach to Behaviours That Challenges

At Leaf Complex Care, our goal is to provide comprehensive and person-centred support that focuses on each person’s unique needs and circumstances. We understand that behaviours of concern often stem from various factors. Taking a holistic approach, we aim to address the underlying causes of these behaviours and provide tailored support to promote positive outcomes.

Our approach involves conducting thorough assessments to understand the person’s background, experiences, and needs deeply. We collaborate closely with the person, their families, and our multidisciplinary in-house team of therapy specialists to develop personalised care plans. These plans encompass a range of interventions, including Positive Behaviour Support, skill-building activities, sensory integration techniques, and environmental modifications.

We deliver complex care services across the UK, and you can find our offices in Bristol, South East, Birmingham and Somerset.