Vizard, E; (2014) Sexually harmful behaviour in children and young people with learning difficulties. In: Lovell, M and Udwin, O, (eds.) OP32: Intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour. (67 - 78). ACAMH: London, UK.

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Abstract

Children and young people with learning disabilities (LD) often show a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems which tend to increase in inverse proportion to the degree of cognitive impairment. Co-morbidity for mental health problems in LD is well known and care planning and management can follow agreed protocols. However, the co-occurrence of serious behavioural problems including sexually harmful behaviour (SHB) adds considerable complexity to these processes. Ethical issues can arise in relation to the fitness to plead of seriously impaired young people facing criminal charges and also in relation to the ‘wishes and feelings’ of oversexualised young people with LD who target younger/more vulnerable children. Early referral of children and young people with LD and SHB should not be deferred for spurious reasons including concerns about ’labelling’ or ‘stigmatisation’. Clinical experience and research suggests that delay in referral is harmful to the subsequent development of children and young people with LD and may put other children and members of the public at risk of sexual assault if appropriate help is not given.

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