Maybe a school has called again, and you are not sure what to say. Maybe a support worker has asked you what to do when a moment escalates. Maybe you are the one lying awake, trying to understand what someone you love is telling you through their behaviour. Positive Behaviour Support begins with that question, the one underneath the behaviour. It does not start with the behaviour itself. It starts with the person, their environment, and what the behaviour is asking for.
01 · What it is
What Positive Behaviour Support actually is
Positive Behaviour Support is an evidence-based approach to understanding why behaviours of concern happen and developing strategies that improve a person’s quality of life. It is not about controlling behaviour. It is about understanding it.
The approach works with people with disability, brain injury, mental health conditions, and complex support needs. Rather than asking “how do we stop this behaviour?”, Positive Behaviour Support asks “what is this behaviour telling us?” That shift in question changes everything.
In Australia, Positive Behaviour Support is the framework endorsed by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. All registered behaviour support practitioners must work within a Positive Behaviour Support framework, and every behaviour support plan lodged with the Commission must align with these principles.
02 · How it is different
How Positive Behaviour Support differs from older behaviour management
Positive Behaviour Support emerged in the 1980s and 1990s from the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis. Applied Behaviour Analysis had produced effective techniques for changing behaviour, but many practitioners and advocates raised concerns about its focus on compliance and its use in populations who could not consent to treatment. Positive Behaviour Support took the functional analysis tools from Applied Behaviour Analysis and wrapped them in a different philosophy. Instead of asking “how do we change this person’s behaviour?”, practitioners started asking “how do we change the environment, the communication supports, and the quality of life so that the behaviour is no longer needed?”
This distinction matters. Applied Behaviour Analysis and Positive Behaviour Support share some tools. They do not share the same values.
The evidence backs the approach. One review pulled together 12 studies covering more than 400 cases. It found Positive Behaviour Support worked even with the most severe and frequent behaviours of concern. It was also affordable to run and straightforward to teach. A more recent trial followed adults with intellectual disability across 26 group-home teams. It found a drop in lethargic, withdrawn behaviour, gains in personal development and self-determination, and the biggest change in irritability for the people who started with the most of it.
The difference plays out across every stage of the work:
- Assessment. Traditional approaches may use incident reports or observation checklists. Positive Behaviour Support uses a functional behaviour assessment conducted across multiple settings over multiple sessions, looking at antecedents, consequences, and the broader context of the person’s life.
- Planning. Traditional approaches often produce a list of responses to behaviours (if X happens, do Y). Positive Behaviour Support produces a comprehensive plan that includes proactive strategies, skill building, environmental changes, and reactive strategies as a last resort.
- Implementation. Traditional approaches are often applied to the person. Positive Behaviour Support is applied to the environment, the communication supports, the routines, and the people around the person. The person themselves is supported to build new skills, not forced to stop existing ones.
- Measurement. Traditional approaches measure whether the behaviour decreased. Positive Behaviour Support measures whether the person’s quality of life improved. Behaviour reduction is a byproduct of good support, not the primary objective.
03 · Four principles
The four principles every plan must meet
Every behaviour support plan in Australia is built on four principles. These are not optional extras. They are the standard every NDIS-registered behaviour support practitioner must work within, and they shape every part of how a plan is built and reviewed.
1. Person-centred. Every plan starts with the person, not the behaviour. What does this person enjoy? What matters to them? Positive Behaviour Support involves the person and their family or carers in every stage of assessment and planning. A behaviour support plan written without the person’s input is not person-centred.
2. Evidence-based. Positive Behaviour Support draws on decades of research in behavioural science, developmental psychology, and disability studies. Practitioners use structured assessments, collect data over time, and measure outcomes. When new evidence emerges, practice changes.
3. Focused on quality of life. The goal is not a quieter group home or a calmer classroom. The goal is a better life for the person. That might mean more community participation, stronger relationships, greater independence, or fewer moments of distress in a day. If a plan reduces the behaviour but quality of life stays the same, the plan has failed.
4. Reducing restrictive practices. Restrictive practices are actions that limit a person’s freedom or movement. Chemical, physical, mechanical, environmental, and seclusion restraints are all classified as restrictive practices under the NDIS. Positive Behaviour Support aims to make these practices unnecessary by building proactive strategies that prevent crises before they happen. See our guide to restrictive practices under the NDIS for the detail.
Person-centred values guide what the plan tries to achieve. Evidence shapes how strategies are chosen. Quality of life is the measure of success. Restrictive practice reduction is the standard the plan is held to.
A plan that reduces the behaviour but leaves quality of life unchanged has not succeeded.
04 · Who it helps
Who Positive Behaviour Support is for
Positive Behaviour Support is most commonly associated with disability, but the approach applies to anyone whose behaviours of concern are linked to unmet needs, environmental factors, or communication barriers.
- People with intellectual disability who may express frustration, pain, or confusion through behaviour because they have limited verbal communication, or have learned that behaviour is the most effective way to get their needs met.
- Autistic people who may experience sensory overload, communication breakdowns, or anxiety in environments that do not accommodate their needs. Read more about Positive Behaviour Support for autism.
- People with acquired brain injury who may experience disinhibition, emotional dysregulation, or frustration as a direct result of neurological damage.
- People with psychosocial disability whose mental health conditions create barriers to daily living, relationships, or community access.
- Children and young people with developmental delay, trauma histories, or complex needs who are struggling at home, school, or in out-of-home care.
- Older adults in residential aged care who display behaviours of concern linked to dementia, pain, loneliness, or environmental factors.
Positive Behaviour Support is funded under the NDIS for eligible participants. It is also available through Medicare and private pathways. For the funding detail, see our guide to behaviour support funding in your NDIS plan.
05 · The process
What the Positive Behaviour Support process looks like
Positive Behaviour Support follows a structured process. While every practitioner works slightly differently, the core stages are consistent.
- Referral and intake. The person, their family, or their support coordinator contacts a provider. The practitioner gathers background information, reviews existing reports, and confirms funding.
- Functional behaviour assessment. The practitioner observes the person across settings, interviews the people in their life, and collects ABC data (Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence). The goal is to develop a hypothesis about why the behaviour is occurring. This is the foundation of everything that follows. See our detailed guide to functional behaviour assessment.
- Behaviour support plan development. Based on the assessment, the practitioner writes a comprehensive plan. This includes proactive strategies (changes to the environment, routines, and communication supports), skill-building goals, reactive strategies for crisis moments, and a restrictive practice reduction plan if applicable. The plan is lodged with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission if the person is an NDIS participant and restrictive practices are in use.
- Implementation and training. The practitioner trains everyone involved: family, carers, support workers, teachers, group home staff. Consistency across all settings is critical. The best plan in the world fails if only half the team follows it.
- Monitoring and review. Positive Behaviour Support is not “write a plan and walk away”. The practitioner monitors progress, collects data, and adjusts the plan as needed. Plans are reviewed at least annually, or sooner if the person’s circumstances change.
The entire process can take several months from referral to a fully implemented plan. This is normal. A thorough assessment takes time, and rushing it leads to plans that do not work.
Further reading
If you want to understand specific aspects of Positive Behaviour Support in more detail, these guides may help:
- What is a functional behaviour assessment? The assessment process explained.
- Restrictive practices under the NDIS. The five regulated types and your obligations.
- Behaviour support funding in your NDIS plan. Line items, plan reviews, and self-management.
- Positive Behaviour Support vs Psychology: what is the difference? When you need each, and when you need both.
- What is behaviour support? Our introductory blog post.
