This commentary is a reflection on the research presented in the November, 2013, issue of this journal (AJIDD, v188, n6). This article was originally planned for inclusion in that issue, but was mistakenly omitted. To correct that oversight, the article is presented below.
The majority of research in intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) over the past several decades falls within the realm of behavioral science. The behavioral science approach has born much fruit in that the many advances in our field have resulted in practices and policies improved by the fact that IDD is something that we define and approach largely in terms of manifest observable behaviors. But, of course, IDDs are equally fundamentally “neurodevelopmental” and an exclusive focus on behavior leaves critical biological stones unturned.
I can look back on almost 30 years of IDD research and see the ideological pendulum swinging from a near-exclusive behavioral emphasis and, perhaps,...