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Positive Behavior Supports
TASH believes that all people with developmental disabilities should lead self-directed lives. Many times, when an individual is being prevented from having control over the decisions, supports, and planning for their lives, challenging behaviors occur.
"difficult behaviors result from unmet needs." ~ david pitonyak
Challenging behaviors that interfere with social relationships, participation in community environments, or accomplishing individual goals and realizing personal dreams can present one of the biggest challenges to support systems and families.
Often behaviors exhibited interfere with the quality of individual life, and the lives of the people with whom they interact. TASH believes that systems of support have a responsibility to offer behavioral interventions and supports that value, enhance, and include people in their communities. Supports offered in this way are most effective in achieving sustained increase in desired behaviors, which in turn increases the likelihood of realizing meaningfully durable outcomes.
What others view as " a behavior problem" is often an individual's response to the complex ways in which events in the environment interact.1 Behaviors are learned responses to particular environmental situations, interactions, or events in an effort to accomplish what an individual needs or wants. Viewed this way, these behaviors, rather than being seen as "problems", can be interpreted as a person's logical response to environments that are not supportive of his/her goals and interests.
The role of quality behavioral programming is therefore not to "control" the dangerous or disruptive behavior, but rather to assist the individual both to learn more adaptive responses and to gain the skills necessary to interact successfully. There exists a range of proven and effective techniques to accomplish these objectives.
Known as positive approaches, positive behavior support, or PBS; this kind of support relies on educational and systems change (environmental re-design) to minimize the occurrence of problematic behavior by enhancing the individual's quality of life and facilitating those skills that will promote communication and social relationships. The science of behavior analysis coupled with the principles of self-determination and person-centered planning are the foundations upon which successful individualized positive behavior supports are based.
PBS is a comprehensive approach that emphasizes understanding the person's problem behavior and building skills and capacity with the individual and their supporters so that they may more meaningfully and competently participate in inclusive, natural, community-based settings. To do this, PBS focuses on:
- Understanding through functional behavior assessment and hypothesis-based interventions that are selectively determined based on an individuals needs, characteristics, and preferences
- Prevention and early intervention
- Education and capacity building
- Long term, comprehensive approaches
- Involvement and ownership of key stakeholders
- Commitment to outcomes that are meaningful for that persons preferred lifestyle2
Focusing solely on the reduction of problem behaviors such as through the use of positive or negative consequences, and/or simply reinforcing appropriate behaviors by itself is not considered PBS. Positive Behavior interventions and supports involve teaching new skills that replace problem behavior over time, assisting the individual to change their interactions (physically and socially) and must be based on the conduct of a Functional Behavior Assessment.
Positive strategies for changing behavior work equally rapidly, work with behaviors that are equally severe, and are at least as effective as strategies that are aversive or coercive in nature.3 An important difference between positive strategies and more restrictive strategies is that positive strategies place treatment emphasis on making desirable responses more probable, where restrictive strategies focus on making negative responses less probable. With positive approaches to behavior change, as desirable behavior increases, problem behaviors, including aggression, self-injury, tantrums, and property destruction become less likely to occur.
When individuals with disabilities are supported in ways that validate their worth and when their attempts to communicate through their behavior are responded to constructively, they have less need to behave in ways that are dangerous or that challenge those around them, and the quality of life of all involved improves. This is the goal of positive approaches to behavior change.
TASH affirms the right of all persons with disabilities to freedom from coercive and/or aversive procedures of any kind. TASH is unequivocally opposed to the inappropriate and prolonged use of restraint and seclusion. We urge every state to pass legislation that results in the cessation of dehumanizing and unnecessary use of restraint and seclusion.
- Horner, R.H.,Vaughn, B.J.,Day, H.M., Ard, Jr., W.R. (1996). The Relationship Between Setting Events and Problem Behavior. In R. Koegel, L.Koegel & G. Dunlap (Eds.) Positive Behavioral Support: Including People with Difficult Behavior in the Community. (pp 381-402). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.
- Carr, E.G., Dunlap, G., Horner, R.H., Koegel, R.L., Turnbull, A.P., Sailor, W.,Anderson, J.L., Albin, R.W., Koegel, L.K., & Fox, L.(2002) Positive Behavior Support: Evolution of an Applied Science. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 4, 4-16,20.
- LaVigna, G.W. and Donnellan, A.M. (1986). Alternatives To punishment: Solving behavior problems with non-aversive strategies. New York: Irvington. 186-187.
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Positive
Behavior Support : Critical Articles on Improving Practice for Individuals with
Severe Disabilities
Edited
by Linda M. Bambara • Glen Dunlap • Ilene S. Schwartz
This reference work, a cooperative venture between
TASH and PRO-ED, is essential for anyone concerned with fundamental issues
related to positive behavior support (PBS). The editors selected influential
articles documenting the history, foundation, and critical features of PSB for
people with severe disabilities from TASH's journal JASH (now called Research
and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities) and PRO-ED's Journal of
Positive Behavior Interventions.
Content: The readings are organized in six topic
areas:
- Historical, Conceptual, and Ethical Foundations of
PBS
- Functional Assessment and Person-Centered Planning
- Assessment Based Interventions
- Families and Family Supports
- Capacity Building
- Extended Applications of PBS: Future Directions
Order online at
PRO-ED |
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