Positive behavior support (PBS) uses a combination of tools from Applied behaviour Analysis and combines it with the values from the 'normalisation and social role valorisation theory' to focus on improving Quality of life. PBS uses functional analysis to understand what maintains an individual's challenging
behavior and how to support the individual to get these needs met in more appropriate way, instead of using 'challenging behaviours'. People's
inappropriate behaviors are difficult to change because they are functional; they serve a purpose for them. These behaviors may be supported by
reinforcement
In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fr ...
in the environment. People may inadvertantly reinforce undesired behaviors by providing objects and/or attention because of the behavior.
The positive behavior support process involves identifying goals, then
Functional behavior assessment (FBA). FBAs clearly describe behaviors, identify the contexts (events, times, and situation) that predict when behavior will and will not occur, and consequences that maintain the behavior. The FBA includes a hypothesis about the behavior and data for a baseline. This informs the support plan design, implementation and monitoring of the plan.
Positive behavior support is increasingly being recognized as a strategy that is feasible, desirable, and effective. For example, teachers and parents need strategies they are able and willing to use and that affect the child's ability to participate in community and school activities.
By changing stimulus and reinforcement in the environment and teaching the person to strengthen deficit skill areas, their behavior changes. In schools, this can allow students to be included in the general education setting.
Three areas of deficit skills addressed by PBS are
communication skills
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
,
social skill
A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called so ...
s, and
self-management skills. Re-directive therapy as positive behavior support is especially effective in the parent–child relationship. Where other treatment plans have failed, re-directive therapy allows for a positive interaction between parents and children. Positive behavior support is successful in the school setting because it is primarily a teaching method.
In U.S. schools
Schools are required to conduct functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and use positive behavior support with students who are identified as
disabled
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
and are at risk for
expulsion
Expulsion or expelled may refer to:
General
* Deportation
* Ejection (sports)
* Eviction
* Exile
* Expeller pressing
* Expulsion (education)
* Expulsion from the United States Congress
* Extradition
* Forced migration
* Ostracism
* Persona non ...
, alternative school placement, or more than 10 days of
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspende ...
. Even though FBA is required under limited circumstances it is good professional practice to use a problem-solving approach to managing problem behaviors in the school setting.
The use of
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to:
Mathematics and science
* Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation
* Positive number, a number that is greater than 0
* Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posi ...
(PBIS) in schools is widespread
[Sugai, G., & Horner, R. H. (2002). The evolution of discipline practices: School-wide positive behavior supports. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 24, 23-50.] in part because it is a professional skill in early special education programs (as opposed to Rogerian counseling). The program offers a primary, secondary, and tertiary level of intervention.
[Tobin, T.J. and Sugai, G. (2005). Preventing Problem Behaviors: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Level Prevention Interventions for Young Children. ''Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention'', 2 (3), 125–14]
BAO
/ref> A basic tenet of the PBIS approach includes identifying students in one of three categories - primary, secondary, or tertiary[Sugai, G., Sprague, J.R., Horner, R.H., & Walker, H.M. (2000). Preventing school violence: The use of office discipline referrals to assess and monitor school wide discipline interventions. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.][Walker, H. M., Horner, R. H., Sugai, G., Bullis, M., Sprague, J. R., Bricker, D., et al. (1996). Integrated approaches to preventing antisocial behavior patterns among school-age children and youth. Journal of Emo- tional and Behavioral Disorders, 4, 193–256.] Interventions are specifically developed for each of these levels with the goal of reducing the risk for academic or social failure.[Stewart, R.M., Martella, R.C., Marchand-Martella, N.E. and Benner, G.J (2005) Three-Tier Models of Reading and Behavior. ''JEIBI'', 2 (3), 115–12]
BAO
/ref> The interventions become more focused and complex at each level.[Tobin T.J., Lewis-Palmer, T., & Sugai G. (2001) School-Wide And Individualized Effective Behavior Support: An Explanation And An Example. ''The Behavior Analyst Today'', 3 (1), 51–7]
BAO
/ref>
Primary prevention
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
strategies focus on interventions used on a school-wide basis for all students. PBS use for other than a designated population group has neither been approved by the professions or the public-at-large.This level of prevention is considered "primary" because all students are exposed in the same way, and at the same level, to the intervention. Approximately 80–85% of students who are not at risk for behavior problems respond in a positive manner to this prevention level. Primary prevention strategies include, but are not limited to, using effective teaching practices and curricula, explicitly teaching behavior that is acceptable within the school environment, focusing on ecological arrangement and systems within the school, consistent use of precorrection procedures, using active supervision of common areas, and creating reinforcement systems that are used on a school-wide basis.
Secondary prevention
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
strategies involve around 10–15% of the school population who do not respond to the primary prevention strategies and are at risk for academic failure or behavior problems but are not in need of individual support. Interventions at the secondary level often are delivered in small groups to maximize time and effort and should be developed with the unique needs of the students within the group. Examples of these interventions include social support such as social skills training
A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called socia ...
(e.g., explicit instruction in skill-deficit areas, friendship clubs, check in/check out, role playing) or academic support. Additionally, secondary programs could include behavioral support approaches (e.g., simple Functional Behavioral Assessments BA precorrection, self-management training).
Even with the heightened support within secondary level interventions, some students (1–7%) will need the additional assistance at the tertiary level.Tertiary prevention programs focus on students who display persistent patterns of disciplinary problems.[Nelson, J. R., Benner, G., Reid, R., Epstein, M. H., & Currin, D. (2002) The convergent validity of office discipline referrals with the TRF. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 10, 181-189.] Tertiary-level programs are also called intensive or individualized interventions and are the most comprehensive and complex. The interventions within this level are strength-based in that the complexity and intensity of the intervention plans directly reflect the complexity and intensity of the behaviors. Students within the tertiary level continue involvement in primary and secondary intervention programs and receive additional support as well. These supports could include use of full FBA, de-escalation
De-escalation is a human behavior that is intended to prevent escalation of conflicts. It may also refer to approaches in conflict resolution. People may become committed to behaviors that tend to escalate conflict, so specific measures must b ...
training for the student, heightened use of natural supports (e.g., family members, friends of the student), and development of a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP).
Although comprehensive services are important for all students, a critical aspect of the three-tiered model is the identification of students at one of the three levels. One method of identifying students in need of interventions is to analyze office disciplinary referrals (ODR) taken at the school. ODRs may be a means of both identifying students' risk level for antisocial behavior
Antisocial may refer to:
Sociology, psychiatry and psychology
* Anti-social behaviour
*Antisocial personality disorder
*Psychopathy
*Conduct disorder
Law
*Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003
*Anti-Social Behaviour Order
*Crime and Disorder Act 1998
* ...
and school failure. Researchers have advocated analyzing this naturally occurring data source as a relatively cheap, effective, and ongoing measurement device for PBS programs.[Sprague et al., 2001]
ODRs have also been shown to be effective in determining where students fall within a three-leveled model, developing professional development as well as helping coordinate school efforts with other community agencies, predicting school failure in older grades as well as delinquency, indicating types of behavior resulting in referrals, and determination of the effectiveness of precorrection techniques. Analyzing discipline referral data can also help school personnel identify where to improve ecological arrangements within a school and to recognize how to increase active supervision in common areas. A limitation of only using ODRs to measure behavior problems is that they have been found to be ineffective at measuring internalizing behavior problems such as anxiety, depression, and withdrawal.
Functional behavior assessment
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) emerged from applied behavior analysis
Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies empirical approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significanc ...
. It is the cornerstone of a Positive Behavior Support plan. The assessment seeks to describe the behavior and environmental factors and setting events that predict the behavior in order to guide the development of effective support plans. Assessment lays the foundation of PBS. The assessment includes:
* a description of the problem behavior and its general setting of occurrence
* identification of events, times and situations that predict problem behavior
* identification of consequences that maintain behavior
* identification of the motivating function of behavior
* collection of direct observational data
* identification of alternative behavior that could replace the person's problem behavior (i.e., what a typical child or adult does). Often this is measured through direct observation or standardized behavioral assessment instruments.
The results of the assessment help in developing the individualized behavior support plan. This outlines procedures for teaching alternatives to the behavior problems, and redesign of the environment to make the problem behavior irrelevant, inefficient, and ineffective.
Behavior chain analysis is another avenue of functional behavior assessment, which is growing in popularity. In behavior chain analysis, one looks at the progressive changes of behavior as they lead to problem behavior and then attempts to disrupt this sequence. Whereas FBA is concerned mostly with setting-antecedent-behavior-consequence relations, the behavior chain analysis looks at the progression of behavior. For example, a child may fidget at first, then begin to tease others, then start to throw things, and finally hit another student.
Behavioral strategies available
There are many different behavioral strategies that PBS can use to encourage individuals to change their behavior. Some of these strategies are delivered through the consultation process to teachers. The strong part of functional behavior assessment is that it allows interventions to directly address the function (purpose) of a problem behavior. For example, a child who acts out for attention could receive attention for alternative behavior (contingency management
Contingency management (CM) is the application of the three-term contingency (or operant conditioning), which uses stimulus control and consequences to change behavior. CM originally derived from the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA), bu ...
) or the teacher could make an effort to increase the amount of attention throughout the day (satiation). Changes in setting events or antecedents are often preferred by PBS because contingency management often takes more effort. Another tactic especially when dealing with disruptive behavior is to use information from a behavior chain analysis to disrupt the behavioral problem early in the sequence to prevent disruption. Some of the most commonly used approaches are:
* Modifying the environment or routine, using the three term contingency, particularly antecedents (such as curriculum
In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
), behavior, and/or consequences
* Providing an alternative to the undesired behavior (not the same as a reward; it should be an alternative that is readily available to the person. The thought behind this is that the person may, over time, learn to more independently seek out appropriate options rather than the undesired behavior(s)).
* Tactical ignoring of the behavior (also called extinction)
* Distracting the child
* Positive reinforcement
In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fr ...
for an appropriate behavior
* Changing expectations and demands placed upon the child
* Teaching the child new skills and behaviors
* Graded extinction and cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) such as desensitization
* Provide sensory based breaks to promote an optimal level of arousal and calming for increased use the replacement/alternative behavior
* Changing how people around the child react
* Time-out (child)
* Medication
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
Behavior management program
The main keys to developing a behavior management
Behavior management, similar to behavior modification, is a less-intensive form of behavior therapy. Unlike behavior modification, which focuses on changing behavior, behavior management focuses on maintaining positive habits and behaviors and red ...
program include:
* Identifying the specific behaviors to address
* Establishing the goal for change and the steps required to achieve it
* Procedures for recognizing and monitoring changed behavior
* Choosing the appropriate behavioral strategies that will be most effective.
Through the use of effective behavior management at a school-wide level, PBS programs offer an effective method to reduce school crime and violence. To prevent the most severe forms of problem behaviors, normal social behavior in these programs should be actively taught.
Consequential management/contingency management
Consequential management is a positive response to challenging behavior. It serves to give the person informed choice and an opportunity to learn. Consequences must be clearly related to the challenging behavior. For example, if a glass of water was thrown and the glass smashed, the consequence (restitution) would be for the person to clean up the mess and replace the glass. These sorts of consequences are consistent with normal social reinforcement contingencies.
Providing choices is very important and staff can set limits by giving alternatives that are related to a behavior they are seeking. It is important that the alternative is stated in a positive way and that words are used which convey that the person has a choice. For example:
* Coercive
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
approach – "If you don't cut that out you'll have to leave the room."
* Positive approach – "You can watch TV quietly or leave the room."
Implementation on a school-wide level
School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SW-PBS) consists of a broad range of systematic and individualized strategies for achieving important social and learning outcomes
Although the noun forms of the three words ''aim'', ''objective'' and ''goal'' are often used synonymously, professionals in organised education define the educational ''aims'' and ''objectives'' more narrowly and consider them to be distinct from ...
while preventing problem behavior with all students.
A measurable goal for a school may be to reduce the level of violence, but a main goal might be to create a healthy, respectful, and safe learning, and teaching, environment. PBS on a school-wide level is a system that can be used to create the "perfect" school, or at the very least a better school, particularly because before implementation it is necessary to develop a vision for what the school environment should look like in the future.
According to Horner et al. (2004), once a school decides to implement PBS, the following characteristics require addressing:
# define 3 to 5 school-wide expectations for appropriate behavior;
# actively teach the school-wide behavioral expectations to all students;
# monitor and acknowledge students for engaging in behavioral expectations;
# correct problem behaviors using a consistently administered continuum of behavioral consequences
# gather and use information about student behavior to evaluate and guide decision making;
# obtain leadership of school-wide practices from an administrator committed to providing adequate support and resources; and
# procure district-level support.
Proponents state that such a program is able to create a positive atmosphere and culture in almost any school, but the support, resources, and consistency in using the program over time must be present.
See also
* Applied Behavior Analysis
Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies empirical approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significanc ...
* Behavior management
Behavior management, similar to behavior modification, is a less-intensive form of behavior therapy. Unlike behavior modification, which focuses on changing behavior, behavior management focuses on maintaining positive habits and behaviors and red ...
* Behavior Modification
Behavior modification is an early approach that used respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior. Based on methodological behaviorism, overt behavior was modified with consequences, including positive and negative reinforcement conti ...
* Behavioral engineering
* Child time-out
* Contingency management
Contingency management (CM) is the application of the three-term contingency (or operant conditioning), which uses stimulus control and consequences to change behavior. CM originally derived from the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA), bu ...
* Positive education Positive education is an approach to education that draws on positive psychology's emphasis of individual strengths and personal motivation to promote learning. Unlike traditional school approaches in which teachers attempt to tailor their material ...
* Professional practice of behavior analysis
The professional practice of behavior analysis is a domain of behavior analysis, the others being radical behaviorism, experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. The practice of behavior analysis is the delivery of interven ...
* Reinforcement
In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fr ...
* Systematic desensitization
Systematic desensitization, or graduated exposure therapy, is a behavior therapy developed by the psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe. It is used when a phobia or anxiety disorder is maintained by classical conditioning. It shares the same elements of both c ...
* Tootling
Alternatives to Special Education Approaches (Special Populations)
* Family support Family support is the support of families with a member with a disability, which may include a child, an adult, or even the parent in the family. In the United States, family support includes "unpaid" or "informal" support by neighbors, families, an ...
* Group home
A group home, congregate living facility, or care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English) is a residence model of medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children ...
* Inclusion (education)
Inclusion in education refers to all students being able to access and gain equal opportunities to education and learning. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on t ...
* Normalization
* Social role valorization
Social role valorization (SRV) is a method for improving the lives of people who are of low status in society. (In countries of the British commonwealth, the third word in the term is usually spelled valorisation, but the abbreviation is the sam ...
* Supported housing
Supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help people live more stable, productive lives, and is an active "community services and funding" stream across the United States. It was developed by ...
* Supported living
References
External links
Virtuoso Education Consulting LLC
– Professional Development Training on PBS
Association for Positive Behavior Support
* ttp://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu/ Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project
The PBIS Compendium
The Irish Association for Behavioural Support
The Callan Institute
'"Training & Consultancy Services in PBS, Dublin, Ireland "'
Training and consultancy services,
The Behavior Analyst Online
* Social Role Valorization consulting group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Positive Behavior Support
Behavior modification
Industrial and organizational psychology
Life coaching
Personal development
Behaviorism