Hi colleagues,

We've been struggling to use only one term in research to refer to that behavior ‘culturally abnormal behavior(s) of such intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behavior which is likely to seriously limit the use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities (Emerson & Einfeld, 2011). Or yet PB has been defined as ‘socially unacceptable behavior that causes distress, harm or disadvantage to the persons themselves or to other people, and usually requires some intervention’ (Deb et al. 2009). Some researchers (maybe most of the field) use problem behavior. In contrast, others use challenging behavior, and now I'm seeing on social media some practitioners using the term 'interfering behavior.' As I understand, this change comes along with the neurodiversity movement to have a less stigmatizing term for this type of behavior.

In my case, I can use anyone who feels better for the neurodiversity movement and make sense when we operationalize it. But my whole problem is with research. It's tough to do systematic reviews, or any type of review, to fill the introduction for an article without the right keywords. As a field, I think it's necessary to facilitate communication between researchers.

I would love to see your comments on that.

Best