Property destruction is a common behavior problem, and demolishing areas that require repair can result in costly damages. This behavior comes in many forms, resulting from physical aggression, agitation, self-injurious behavior, or low frustration tolerance. However, the antecedents or triggers of property destruction may be social isolation, restrictive environments, or internal and external factors. Moreover, emotional, psychological, or psychiatric factors can also influence the destruction of property. The behavior can also lead to frequent injuries, hospitalizations, or incarceration.
For people diagnosed with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, staff must always be aware to intervene as necessary and prevent any possible injury. Commonly, a person could exhibit repetitive property destruction behaviors to supplement sensory/stimulatory needs, communication issues, mental instability, denial of requests/demands, and medication regimen imbalances.
Other precursors for the I/DD population destroying property may be an expression of pain from a medication condition, neurological impairments, escape or avoidance of unwanted situations, seeking attention, loss of cognitive or independent living functioning, hostility, or poor social support. Disruptive behavior should be resolved with pharmacotherapy or alternate interventions. Pharmacotherapy is one of the standard options for treating challenging behavior, but it is the most restrictive and should be considered a last resort.
To treat or mitigate property destruction, a caregiver or staff must be able to intervene as quickly as possible and remove any items that can be thrown to be a danger to themselves or others. However, if the behavior has already occurred, an effective reactive strategy is to encourage the person to repair the damage so that they can learn from natural consequences. The natural consequence for anyone is that if they break an item unlawfully or cause any severe damage to an environment, the person will be held responsible.
