Addressing disruptive behaviors within naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions: Clinical decision-making, intervention outcomes, and implications for practice
Authors: Kushner Elizabeth H , Hendrix Nicole , Islam Nailah , Pickard Katherine 
Published: October 2023

Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions are an empirically supported intervention approach for young autistic children. Despite the prevalence of disruptive behaviors among autistic children, most manualized caregiver-mediated naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions include limited formal guidance on when and how to manage disruptive behavior. The present study sought to characterize how clinicians address disruptive behaviors within the caregiver-mediated naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention, Project ImPACT, the effect of disruptive behavior on Project ImPACT delivery, and the extent to which disruptive behavior impacts social communication outcomes. Data collection was embedded within outpatient early intervention services and included clinicians’ report of adaptations to address behavior within the electronic medical record, child social communication outcomes from 124 children and their caregivers, and interviews with certified Project ImPACT coaches and trainers. Results indicate that close to one-third of Project ImPACT sessions included adaptations made to address behavior and regulation. Furthermore, adaptations made to address disruptive behavior were associated with more adaptations to Project ImPACT overall, although behavior adaptations were not associated with child social communication outcomes. Qualitatively, clinicians described using a flexible approach to integrate content and coaching related to behavior and regulation. The present study indicates several future directions for supporting clinicians in addressing behavior and regulation within the naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention framework.

Lay Abstract

Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions are a common and well-researched type of intervention for young autistic children that focus on supporting social communication. These interventions often do not include formal guidelines on how to address disruptive behaviors, even though they are common among autistic children. This study measured how often clinicians delivering a specific naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention, Project ImPACT, adapted how they delivered the program to address disruptive behavior, and how these adaptations related to children’s social communication outcomes at the end of their participation in the intervention. We also spoke with clinicians about how they address disruptive behavior and emotion regulation during their sessions. In this study, clinicians adapted Project ImPACT to address disruptive behaviors in about one-third of all sessions. These adaptations did not affect children’s social communication outcomes. Clinicians discussed how they felt social communication, disruptive behavior, and emotion regulation are linked to one another and that they often try to integrate intervention strategies to address each of these areas. However, they note that a clinicians’ approach to addressing disruptive behavior might vary depending on their level of training and experience. These results indicate several future directions for supporting clinicians in addressing behavior and regulation effectively within these types of interventions.