Positive behavioral support of adults with developmental disabilities: assessment of long-term adjustment and habilitation following restrictive treatment histories

The long-term maintenance of behavioral treatment effects is an important m easure of clinical significance but is not reported with regularity in the published literature. The present report concerned therapeutic maintenance by evaluating five adults with developmental disabilities who had been expo sed to multiple, restrictive procedures (food deprivation, mechanical restr aint, electric shock) in a prior residential treatment facility and were tr ansitioned to a new habilitation setting where these procedures were termin ated in favor of alternative methods of behavior support, As revealed throu gh a 24-month follow-up period, all of the participants were able to mainta in clinically acceptable levels of challenging behaviors following the remo val of the restrictive treatment procedures, Quality of life measures also revealed that the participants experienced greater independence, reduced su pervision, and increased diversity in their living and work environments. T hese findings add to the limited studies on extended maintenance outcomes f rom behavioral intervention for serious clinical disorders in adults with d evelopmental disabilities by demonstrating that positive adjustment can be sustained in the long-term without the continuation of restrictive treatmen t procedures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. AU rights reserved.