Identifying early risk markers of self-injurious behaviour

Adolescent with autism Project Area: Examining the amount, forms and causes of self-injury in people on the autism spectrum

Research Team Caroline Richards, Prof. Chris Oliver and Dr. Debbie Allen

Institution: The Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, The School of Psychology, University of Birmingham

Status: Completed

Length: 3 years

Method: 5 complementary studies examining the amount, forms and causes of self-injury in people on the autism spectrum

Likely impact:

This project provided

Research that identifies the amount, forms and causes of self-injury in people on the autism spectrum
Important information about the size of the problem and knowledge about how to intervene to reduce self-injury

Additional Information

This project had the following research aims:

To document the prevalence of self-injury in individuals with ASD
To contrast the prevalence and phenomenology of self-injury in ASD with people who have an intellectual disability and a genetic syndrome
To determine the behavioural correlates of self-injury in ASD in order to begin to define risk markers for the future development of self-injury
To establish the function of self-injury in a group of children with ASD
To explore the temporal relationships between self-injury and other behaviours

This project consisted of 5 complementary studies

Study 1: Self-injurious behaviour in autism spectrum disorder and to identify any associated behavioural and demographic characteristics in this more able population.

Study 2: Self-injurious behaviour in autism spectrum disorder: A three year follow up study

Study 3: Self-restraint in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder who self-injure

Study 5: The relationship between self-injury and other behaviours shown by children with autism spectrum disorder

Please see the Related Publications section below for details of the publications arising from this study.

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