At Pearson Allied Health Services our Behaviour Support Team is a dedicated group of professionals who are passionate about supporting individuals, their families and their service providers to manage challenging behaviours and improve people’s quality of life.
One of the key methods our wonderful team use is called Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) so we just wanted to give you the low down on what this exactly is!
What is Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)?
PBS is a strategy we use to help empower people by providing them with support in situations where there is, or there is a risk of, challenging behaviour.
Challenging behaviour is essentially a consistent behaviour or trait that puts the physical safety of people at risk or that causes difficulties in a person’s ability to have a good life. Why do we call it challenging? That is because it challenges everyone who supports the person to understand why it is happening and to work together to find a solution.
We use PBS to get to the foundation of why this behaviour happens and how those who live with anyone who encounters challenging behaviour can recognise the signs, symptoms and outcomes of that behaviour.
What are some examples of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) support mechanisms?
PBS can come in a range of different methods and actions that support each unique individual. Of course, not one size fits all.
Some examples include:
- Tactical ignoring of certain behaviour
- Identifying successful distractions
- Positive reinforcement for an appropriate behaviour
- Changing expectations and demands
- Teaching new skills and behaviours
- Provide sensory based breaks to promote interest and calming behaviour
- Time-out
What is a Positive Behaviour Support Plan (PBSP)?
At PAHS, we take pride in working across the board with different parties to create the best outcome. Through collaboration and consultation with the family, and school staff we collect information behaviours, situations and the circumstances in which they occur.
We can then undertake several different assessments and observations in various environments to identify triggers of the behaviour and to start identifying strategies to minimise the outcomes.
We will then develop a PBSP which will include a number of different sections. These will cover:
- Identifying, developing and reinforcing an appropriate behaviour that replaces the challenging behaviour.
- Creating an environment that minimises and removes the antecedent whilst reinforcing and promoting positive behaviours.
- Developing an action plan to respond to the challenging behaviour when it occurs.
Once the PBSP has been completed, we will then implement and of course, review and revaluate, regularly to ensure it is still relevant and effective.
—
PBS is a scientific approach that aims to protect a person’s rights and to promote quality of life for them their families and others, and we are great believers of the positive outcomes it can achieve.
