Eliminating self-injurious behavior by educative procedures

A revised method that appears to be an effective method of treating self-injurious behavior and avoids the general reluctance to use pain-shock was used with 11 clients, ten of whom were very severely retarded.

Abstract

Self-injury is a common problem among autistic and severely retarded persons. The most effective treatment has been pain-shock punishment. To provide a possible alternative treatment, modifications were made in previously developed treatments for autistic behavior. The revised method included positive reinforcement for non-self-injurious behavior, a period of required relaxation or incompatible postures upon each occurrence of a self-injurious episode, and a hand-awareness training procedure. The treatment procedure was used with 11 clients, ten of whom were very severely retarded. No clients were excluded. The mean number of self-injurious episodes was reduced by 90 per cent on the first day, by 96 per cent at the end of one week and by 99 per cent by the end of three months. For four of the clients self-injury was eliminated almost entirely. The new procedure appears to be an effective method of treating self-injurious behavior and avoids the general reluctance to use pain-shock.