Understanding Challenging Behaviour: Perspective, Function, and Purpose

Last week, I had the privilege of working with the team at XYP Childcare delivering a session on Positive Behaviour Support (PBS). After exploring the goals and features of PBS, participants were asked to define the term challenging behaviour.

This term is widely used in special education and care, but—like many catch-all labels—it often obscures more than it reveals. Ask 100 people to describe “challenging behaviour” and you’ll likely get 100 different answers. Like beauty, it often lies in the eye of the beholder. Ask the same group on another day or at a different time of day, and the responses might change again.

Personal Experience: Context Matters

Between 1996 and 1998, I worked as a care worker and later as a senior care worker in two residential special schools. We followed a two-week rolling rota, which included one “short week” (~25 hours) and one “long week” (~53 hours). The long week included an entire weekend: 3:30 – 10:30 pm on Friday, 8:00 am – 10:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday, and 8:00 am – 9:30 am on Monday. Hours were usually extended by sleep-in duties, which required staff to stay on-site and be available on call overnight. I was often rota’d on Fridays and Sundays.

Even with the best intentions, my patience and judgment fluctuated. What I might see as “challenging” behaviour at 5:00 pm on Friday could feel very different by 8:00 pm on Sunday. This emphasised something important: our interpretation of behaviour is affected by time, energy, and emotional bandwidth.

Behaviour in Context

The context also influences how we view behaviour. Crying at a funeral or while watching an emotionally charged film is often seen as acceptable. But crying during a performance review or while leading a supervision meeting? Not so much.

During the training session, participants described challenging behaviour using these terms:

Emotional – Variable – Unpredictable – Risky – Subjective – A response – A behaviour that makes a situation difficult – Communication of feelings – I need help – Linked to past events/learning need – Distraction/escape from their inner emotions/demons – A behaviour that causes concern or alarm – Out of the social norm

Their collective definition?

“Challenging behaviour is an act to fulfil a need.”

A Widely Accepted Definition

British academic Eric Emerson described challenging behaviour as:

“Behaviour can be described as challenging when it is of such an intensity, frequency or duration as to threaten the quality of life and/or the physical safety of the individual or others and is likely to lead to responses that are restrictive, aversive or result in exclusion.” (Emerson, 1995)

This definition, although rooted in the field of learning disabilities, has broader applications. Acts such as graffiti, shoplifting, physical assault, sexual harassment, or drink/drug driving would all meet the criteria identified by Emerson, threatening safety or quality of life and potentially resulting in isolation, restriction, and exclusion.

The Function Behind Behaviour

One of the core principles in Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is that all behaviour serves a purpose. Five primary functions have been identified:

1.   Reduce the experience of pain or internal discomfort:
To avoid or reduce physical pain, anxiety, or emotional distress.

2.   Attention or interaction:
To gain attention, connection, or a response from others.

3.   Escape from demands:
To avoid, delay, or get out of a task or situation perceived as unpleasant or overwhelming.

4.   Tangible reasons:
To obtain a desired item, activity, or outcome (e.g. food, object, play a game).

5.   Sensory or stimulation:
The behaviour provides pleasing sensory input or regulates sensory needs, such as through movement, sound, or touch. It may also be used to alleviate boredom.

Wider Applications?

If identifying and addressing the function of behaviour in individuals with learning disabilities leads to a reduction in challenging behaviour, could the same principles be applied more broadly? Could this approach inform how we address anti-social behaviour in wider society? Understanding behaviour as functional, not just disruptive, encourages empathy, improves support strategies, and fosters more meaningful interventions.

Reference: Emerson, E. (1995) ‘Challenging Behaviour: Analysis and Intervention in People with Learning Disabilities’. Cambridge University Press.

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