Purpose: Challenging behaviours present major impediments to a young child's life. Being able to properly assess these behaviours can lead to early intervention and remediation.
Method: In the present study, the problem behaviours of 644 children 17-37 months of age who were at risk for developmental disabilities were studied using the BISCUIT-Part 3. In study one, norms and cut-off scores were established for this new scale using this sample. In study 2, the frequency and patterns of various challenging behaviours were evaluated.
Results: The majority of developmentally delayed children who had severe challenging behaviours engaged in aggressive/destructive acts. However, severe problem behaviours were in the minority of occurrence.
Conclusions: Outcomes suggest that these behaviours can be identified at an early age using a validated instrument tool. Implications are that pinpointing emerging problematic behaviours allows for a more accurate assessment of the delayed child's overall functioning. Being able to pinpoint behaviour problems allows for earlier and more effective treatment.