Understanding Positive Behaviour Support

As a Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner, I understand how important it is to provide the right support for children so they can live their best lives. One of the most effective approaches for achieving this is Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), a strategy endorsed by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

In this guide, I’ll explain what PBS is, how it works, and how it can benefit your child and family.

What is Positive Behaviour Support?

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is an evidence-based approach that helps us understand and support behaviours in a way that improves quality of life. Rather than focusing only on reducing behaviours of concern, PBS looks at what’s behind the behaviour and how we can meet the child’s needs through safe, supportive strategies.

At its heart, PBS is about:

• Understanding the reasons behind certain behaviours

• Meeting the individual’s needs through tailored support

• Ensuring support is compassionate, non-harmful, and effective

Sometimes you may also hear PBS referred to as specialist behaviour support. It’s a respectful, holistic approach that helps children build skills, feel safe, and thrive.

How Can Positive Behaviour Support Help Your Child?

PBS can make a real difference in a child’s everyday life. Benefits include:

• Gaining more choice and control

• Support tailored to their unique needs

• Greater participation in school, home, and the community

• Improved relationships with family, peers, and at School

It also supports children to learn new skills, build coping strategies, and feel more confident—contributing to their overall safety, wellbeing, and independence.

How Does Positive Behaviour Support Work?

As a specialist behaviour support practitioner, my role is to work closely with you, your child, and your child’s support network to create a

Behaviour Support Plan.

This is a collaborative process where we:

1. Explore the reasons behind behaviours of concern

2. Identify strategies and supports that are meaningful and effective

3. Develop a plan that is practical, clear, and tailored to your child

4. Review and adjust the plan regularly to make sure it continues to meet your child’s needs

What is a Behaviour Support Plan?

There are two main types of Behaviour Support Plans:

• Interim Behaviour Support Plan – focuses on immediate safety concerns and short-term strategies to keep everyone safe. Your child may not need an interim plan, this is provided as needed on an individual basis.

• Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan – looks deeper into why behaviours are occurring and outlines long-term supports and skill-building strategies. Including looking at how the environment impacts the child so adjustments can be made.

Both plans are developed with input from you, your child, and key people in their life, ensuring the support is consistent, holistic, and family-centred.

What Positive Behaviour is Not.

Positive Behaviour Support in not like other Allied Health Therapies you might be accessing. It is not therapy which is done in single sessions with much of the therapy taking place with the child only during that session. We are not "therapists" perse but practitioners who write the support plan and help those around your child implement it.

We do provide Therapy and Training with your child at intervals throughout their NDIS plan, provided to help discover and support your child however parents, carers and their support network deliver the strategies outlined in the plan on a daily basis. You and your child's support network are key in helping them develop and grow.

Positive Behaviour Support is a powerful, evidence-based approach that can create meaningful change for children and families.