Dealing with difficult behaviours can be draining and frustrating. Whether it is you or your loved one, aggression, self-injury, or difficulty in social situations, these behaviors can affect daily living, interpersonal relationships, and physical health. But there is hope. Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is an evidence-based strategy that allows individuals to escape and minimise difficult behaviors in a manner that honors them and improves their quality of life.
What is Positive Behaviour Support?
Positive Behaviour Support is a person-focused practice seeking to grasp why hard-to-manage behaviour arises and to step in to replace it with better ones. While simply trying to cut unwanted behaviour, PBS moves towards the greater question—why does it occur, what contribution does the setting make, and what strengths can be developed so the individual can more easily make their way through it all?
PBS has also been extensively used on individuals with disabilities, autism, mental illness, and other special needs. PBS is beneficial to any individual who is having difficulties with behaviour that disrupts their living. PBS uses proactive strategies and enables sustainable change in place of temporary solutions.
How Positive Behaviour Support Reduces Challenging Behaviours
PBS works as it goes straight to the cause of behaviour and not its effect. See how it works:
1. Discovering the Triggers
The first thing ever done by PBS is to administer an adequate evaluation to determine the cause of those challenging behaviors. These can include environmental conditions, sensory, communication, or neglecting to address their needs. Once the person knows the cause of these behaviors, it becomes simple to use strategies to keep them from ever occurring.
For example, when the child becomes aggressive upon being asked to transition from one activity to another, PBS can involve introducing visual timers or schedules to facilitate more predictable and seamless transitions. By identifying and responding to such triggers, individuals are more under their control and less likely to engage in challenging behaviors.
2. Teaching New Skills
Problem behavior is a result of an insufficiency of adequate skills for the expression of needs. PBS aims to intervene in skill provision to express by way of various communication modes and stress coping. This may include:
- Mastering communication skills by way of speech, gesture, or assistive technology
- Learning relaxation as a strategy for stress coping from frustration
- Training in coping skills to facilitate smooth interaction with others
For example, an individual with communication difficulty can behave difficultly because of frustration. Training them on how to use picture exchange communication systems (PECS) or other augmentative communication systems will decrease their dependence on challenging behaviours.
3. Creating Supportive Environments
An individual’s environment plays a large role in influencing their behavior. PBS is all about altering the environment to reduce stress and promote healthier interactions. This may include:
- Altered lighting or sounds for sensory-sensitive individuals
- Providing structured routines to increase predictability
- Providing choices to enable individuals to feel that they are controlling their lives
For example, an autistic child who is negatively impacted by light and sound might struggle with public meltdowns. Creating a calm, sensory-friendly environment can be a definite aid in being able to support them to live effectively.
4. Positive Reinforcement Encouragement
PBS is directed towards building positive reinforcement and discouraging bad behavior. PBS comprises reinforcing and rewarding good behavior, resulting in it being repeated in the future. Positive reinforcement may involve:
- Praise and encouragement
- Low frequency rewarding goal achievements
- Rewarding and acknowledging milestones
Rather than memorising punishment, PBS focuses on the strength of the individual and builds their ability to exhibit good behavior. It establishes a healthier atmosphere of positive support.
5. Family and Support Network Involvement
Problem behaviour does not occur to the participant, sometimes it occurs to family members, carers, and care workers too. PBS is about involving all of those who are part of the person’s support team to be consistent and encourage positive ways of working. Training and education for caregivers provide them with knowledge of how to respond to facilitate positive change rather than inadvertently punishing behavior.
For example, parents and teachers can learn soothing and rewarding communication to respond back when a child is having tantrums so that the child develops healthier habits later.
6. Monitoring and Making Adjustments
PBS is not generic. It has to be monitored constantly so plans can still function. Checks and balances serve to create an awareness of what works and what doesn’t work and how it must adapt. As people mature and become older, their strategies of support must also mature.
If an autistic adolescent has acquired wholesome coping mechanisms for handling frustration but is not getting it right when it comes to social interactions, their PBS intervention can be changed to incorporate education on how to teach them wholesome social interaction skills. This helps at all stages of their development because help remains beneficial and fruitful at all levels of their progress.
The Long-Term Benefits of Positive Behaviour Support
PBS is not just about reducing challenging behaviour, it is about improving quality of life. Some of the key benefits are:
- Greater Independence: With the development of new skills, individuals are more independent in managing themselves on a daily basis and engaging independently.
- Improved Relationships: Preferred behavior leads to improved communication and healthier relationships with caregivers, families, and peers.
- Less Stress: A planned support plan eliminates fear and frustration at both the individual and the carer level.
- Increased Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem: Through gaining gains in the ability to learn new skills, an individual has confidence in their capacity.
- Longer-Term Sustainability: Since PBS fosters longer-term change instead of a short-term solution, such outcomes result in the long-term transformation of behaviour and wellbeing.
Conclusion
Our dream at Capability Support Servicesto see each individual live their best life. Our well-trained team provides individual Positive Behaviour Support plans, which are developed specifically to suit each individual’s unique needs.
We are behaviour-based, evidence-based, and empathetic in supporting individuals to empower people and not manage behaviour. Whatever you, or your family member or child, may be experiencing, we will support you throughout the entire process.
Our Capability Support Services team is dedicated to collaborating with carers, support workers, and families in order to see PBS plans implemented and sustained over time.
If you, or someone close to you, are having difficulty with difficult behaviors, today is the day you find a compassionate, evidence-based answer. Positive Behaviour Support has the power to transform lives by repairing behavior at its source and developing positive, enduring alternatives.
Call Capability Support Services now to find out how we can help. We can work together to create a personalised plan tailored to your needs that fosters growth, confidence, and a more rewarding, happier life.
