2.3 Positive Behaviour Support
Key factors and principles
When using a positive behaviour support (PBS) approach to addressing challenging behaviour, key factors and principles are drawn from ABA. The first principle is that behaviour is learned as a result of reinforcement. Reinforcement generally is perceived to originate in the environment rather than within the individual. If behaviour is learned, then problem behaviour can be changed through teaching and learning.
“The environment affects behaviour in predictable ways” (Scott, Anderson & Alter, 2012, p. 17).
Understanding that behaviour is the result of an interaction between it and the environment, is a key principle of a positive behaviour support approach. Within the environment some examples of influence on behaviour could be the space itself, the people in it, the expectations or the task. If a behaviour is followed by a positive or favourable outcome, then it is more likely to keep happening or occur again. Therefore, inappropriate student behaviour occurs because the consequences of the behaviour are reinforcing. To reduce the behaviour, a teacher must identify these consequences and alter them. This leads to the next important principle, behaviour can be changed.
The conditions surrounding the behaviour are changed to reduce or stop the undesirable behaviour and increase appropriate behaviour. The focus is upon determining the antecedents or events that trigger the behaviour, alter the consequences maintaining the behaviour and reinforce the desired behaviours. By scrutinising the environment, looking for patterns and influences on the behaviour, the function or purpose of the behaviour can be determined, and behaviour interventions can be developed to match the function, teach and reinforce new (replacement) behaviours.
Think back to earlier in the chapter when you considered your own beliefs regarding the causes of disruptive student behaviour. Can you see that the belief that the causes of misbehaviour lie within the student are in direct contrast to the underlying ABA belief that observable behaviour is an important source of behaviour change? From a PBS perspective, the blame for the disruptive behaviour is not levelled at the individual, the family, the home life or the disability, rather, it is directed at the environment and what is happening there.
Considering disruptive student behaviour from the point of view of its relationship to the environment (a behaviourist view) means that the teacher is more likely to persist in trying to discover the function of the behaviour and how to change the environment to prevent, teach and reinforce the desired student behaviour. So how can teachers do this? Teachers can embrace a positive behaviour support mindset, employing ABA methods and interventions to help reduce disruptive student behaviour. Proactive and preventative, a positive behaviour support framework uses the core principles of applied behaviour analysis to promote student d