A Comparative Analysis of Research Trends in Occurrence, Prevention and Intervention of Challenging Behavior：Young Children with and without Disabilities
Soo Ok Yoo , Soon Ja Lee
Abstract
In this study, 150 previous studies of young children`s challenging behavior, conducted over the past 10 years, from 2003 to 2012, were selected. These studies were in relation to young children both with and without disabilities, and they were thus used for the purposes of comparative analysis. The major findings are as follows. First, research on challenging behavior not only of young children with disabilities but also of those without disabilities has been an increasing trend from 2008. While most studies of those without disabilities were based on observations by parents or teachers using a variety of tools, studies regarding those with disabilities mainly used single-subject research methods using an operational definition. Second, the bulk of the studies of young children without disabilities were focused on interaction between various children`s internal variables and a variety of parent-related variables related to the occurrence of challenging behavior. In comparison, studies of young children with disabilities were focused excessively on direct intervention after the occurrence of problems. Regarding those without disabilities, the interaction between children`s temperament, internal variables, and their mothers` parenting behavior, external variables were the main areas of interest for these researchers. There is clearly a growing need for more active research aimed at the prevention of challenging behavior. Challenging behavior in early childhood has an influence not only on each child`s present and future academic achievement levels and their quality of life but also on the quality of instruction in classroom available to all children.
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