Inclusive service design for young people with learning disabilities who exhibit behaviours of concern

Service providers across the globe have reported increasingly disturbed behaviour and conduct problems among young people (Hickie et al. 2005; Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health 2009). In the UK, the number of 15–16 year olds with conduct problems at the more severe end of the scale more than doubled between 1974 and 1999 (Collishaw et al. 2004). In many cases, young people are subject to restrictive interventions such as imprisonment or compulsory treatments in order to control what are termed ‘behaviours of concern’ (DHS 2010b). Such behaviours of concern may include aggression and self-harm (including substance abuse) and crime. This chapter is concerned with considering the needs of children and young people between the ages of 10 and 17 years who have learning disabilities, and who have been identified as having problematic behaviours.