Reducing Aggression in Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: An Expanded Stimulus Control,Assessment,and Intervention Model 1

Abstract

Stimulus control procedures have been useful in reducing clinically significant problems of aggression and related aberrant behaviors presented by developmentally disabled individuals. These procedures involve the identification and modification of immediately preceding stimulus events that are functional in instigating the aggressive behaviors. Limitations, however, remain in use of stimulus control procedures in that a high relationship between specific stimulus events and episodes of aggression is seldom observed. Recent conceptual and methodological innovations in applied behavior analysis provide the potential for increasing our un-derstanding of the stimulus events that control aggression in this clinical population. These innovations involve the definition and analysis of setting events. The potential use of this expanded stimulus control model is illustrated with recent research findings. Implications of these findings for more effective treatment of aggression in the developmentally disabled person are suggested.