Reviewing risk for individuals with developmental disabilities

There are many categories of risky behaviors that are of interest to individuals, agencies, and institutions interested in care for developmentally disabled persons. These include challenging behaviors such as aggression and self-injury, psychiatric diagnoses, medical problems, criminal behaviors, and victimization. The literature in this area is difficult to digest due to a number of methodological problems. This paper reviews the research on one of these behaviors, self-injury, and provides a framework that can be applied to other research on predicting risk. Additionally, it attempts to organize the findings in such a way as to maximize the utility to providers and suggest useful directions for future research.