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Background  This study focuses on the support of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) by analysing the number and content of formulated goals in the educational programmes.Methods  The programmes of 145 persons with PIMD were analysed. The number of long‐ and short‐term goals as well as the number of goals reached was determined. To clarify the content of given support, goals were categorized into different domains.Results  In total, 220 long‐term goals were formulated (mean: 2; SD: 0.88; range: 1–4), of which 14% were reached. Of the 1624 short‐term goals (mean: 11; SD: 10.07; range: 0–51) formulated, 52% were reached. Further detailed analyses show that although the number of goals was not dependent on age, the number of long‐term goals reached was significantly higher in children; 52% of the 220 long‐term goals focused on 'interaction and social' roles and 68% of the 1624 short‐term goals focused on 'gathering knowledge about the client'.Conclusions  Results indicate that support to persons with PIMD especially focuses on 'interaction and social roles'. Especially, health issues seem to be under‐represented. Short‐term goals mainly focus on gathering knowledge. Further studies are needed to clarify if professionals indeed lack detailed information about their clients or if available knowledge (e.g. in files) is not transferred into day‐to‐day practice.

AbstractAs some people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) are at a high risk of developing a challenging behavior, it is useful to look at measures taken to prevent or diminish this type of behavior. The authors undertook a study of how self‐injurious, stereotypical, destructive, or aggressive behaviors are addressed in daily practice in residential facilities. A stratified sample of 30 people with the most severe and frequently reported challenging behaviors was selected from a dataset of 181 children and adults with PIMD. Individual comprehensive service plans were used to determine whether challenging behaviors were present and how these problems were addressed. In total, only 51.8% of the challenging behaviors that occurred were described in the individual plans, and for 53.7% of the challenging behaviors, strategies or interventions were included in the individual service plans. Only 17.2% of the cases contained goals formulated to prevent or diminish such behavior. A significant positive relationship was found between the severity of challenging behavior and the extent to which it was described in the individual comprehensive service plans. The authors also noted that interventions that were aimed at diminishing or preventing challenging behavior were highly simplistic, and virtually no goals were formulated to document, diminish, or prevent challenging behavior in people with PIMD.