Challenging Behaviour in Schools for Pupils With Severe Learning Difficulties

Abstract A postal survey concerning the prevalence of challenging behaviour in day schools for pupils with severe learning difficulties, covering one in six schools in England and Wales, is reported. Definitions of particular challenging behaviours were operationalised and an overall rating of management difficulty was shown to be reasonably consistently applied across schools. There were unexplained differences in the reported prevalence of challenging behaviour across schools but the ‘average’ school of 60 pupils would be expected to identify around five more difficult pupils and a further nine pupils who showed less difficult challenging behaviour. Differences between Independently mobile (IM), and non‐independently mobile (NIM), pupils in abilities and the pattern of challenging behaviour emerged. Data are discussed in the context of possible training needs of schools.