Living with behaviours of concern can feel exhausting, confusing, and emotionally heavy, whether you’re a parent, carer, support worker, or a person living with disability yourself.
Many families describe feeling stuck between wanting safety and calm, while also wanting dignity, understanding, and respect for the person at the centre of it all.
This is where Positive Behaviour Support planning plays a critical role.
Positive Behaviour Support planning is an evidence-based, person-centred approach used across the NDIS to understand why behaviours of concern occur and to put practical, respectful supports in place that improve quality of life for everyone involved.
Rather than focusing on “stopping” behaviour, PBS looks deeper at communication, unmet needs, environments, routines, trauma, and skill development.
PBS planning is never a solo process; it involves collaboration between the person, their family, carers, schools, support workers, and allied health professionals, all working together toward shared goals.
Above all, this guide aims to reassure you that behaviours of concern are not a failure; they are communication, and with the right planning and support, meaningful change is possible.
What is Positive Behaviour Support?
Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is a person-centred, evidence-based approach designed to understand and reduce behaviours of concern while improving the quality of life for people living with disabilities.
Under the NDIS, Positive Behaviour Support focuses on understanding why a behaviour occurs, adjusting environments and supports to reduce stressors, and teaching new skills so the person can meet their needs safely and effectively.
Rather than asking how to stop a behaviour, PBS asks what the person is communicating, which needs are not being met, and what skills, supports, or environmental changes could help.
PBS is grounded in human rights, dignity, and inclusion. Its goal is not compliance or control, but safer, calmer lives where people feel understood, supported, and empowered to participate in daily life.
Moreover, this is very different from traditional behaviour management approaches that rely on punishment, consequences, or restrictive strategies.
PBS recognises that behaviours of concern often develop in response to unmet communication needs, sensory overload, trauma, anxiety, or lack of choice and control.
When delivered well, PBS improves:
- Communication and emotional regulation
- Relationships between the person and their support network
- Independence, participation, and well-being
- Safety for the person and those around them
What is a Behaviour Support Plan?
A behaviour support plan is the practical outcome of Positive Behaviour Support planning.
It is a written, individualised plan developed after assessment, outlining how to support a person and reduce behaviours of concern in safe, respectful ways.
Under the NDIS, a behaviour support plan must be based on assessment and tailored to the individual’s needs, goals, environment, and strengths.
A high-quality PBS plan typically includes:
- A summary of the functional behaviour assessment
- Clear descriptions of behaviours of concern
- Triggers and early warning signs
- Proactive strategies to reduce the likelihood of behaviour occurring
- Teaching strategies to build new skills
- Reactive strategies for responding safely during incidents
- Guidance for carers, teachers, and support workers
- Review timeframes and outcome measures
If restrictive practices are used or proposed, the plan must:
- Clearly identify them as regulated restrictive practices
- Explain why they are being used
- Include reduction and elimination strategies
- Meet NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission requirements
Key Principles of Positive Behaviour Support
Positive Behaviour Support is guided by a set of well-established principles that align closely with the NDIS Code of Conduct and human rights frameworks.
Furthermore, these principles ensure support is ethical, respectful, and focused on improving quality of life, not simply managing behaviour.
Person-Centred and Strengths-Based
PBS starts with the person their goals, preferences, culture, communication style, and strengths.
Behaviour is never viewed in isolation from the person’s lived experience, and support is built around what matters most to them and what they already do well.
Proactive, Not Reactive
PBS prioritises proactive strategies such as environmental adjustments, predictable routines, communication supports, and skill development before reactive responses are needed.
By reducing stressors early, PBS helps prevent behaviours of concern rather than responding after they occur.
Skill-Building Focus
Rather than suppressing behaviour, PBS teaches functionally equivalent replacement behaviours in safe and effective ways for the person to meet the same need.
This builds independence, confidence, and long-term capability instead of reliance on external control.
Least Restrictive Approach
PBS is committed to reducing and eliminating restrictive practices wherever possible, using them only as a last resort and in line with NDIS rules.
The focus is always on dignity, safety, and the person’s right to choice and control.
Collaborative and Inclusive
Positive Behaviour Support planning works best when everyone, families, schools, carers, support workers, and the person themselves use consistent strategies.
Shared understanding and teamwork help create stability across environments and support meaningful, lasting change.
How Positive Behaviour Support Planning Works (Step-by-Step)
PBS planning is a structured but collaborative process. While every situation is unique, most PBS journeys follow these steps.
Step 1: Referral and Engagement
The process begins by clarifying goals, concerns, and consent.
The practitioner works with the person and their support network to understand priorities, values, and what safety and quality of life look like.
Step 2: Behaviour Support Assessment
This stage focuses on understanding patterns, triggers, and the function of behaviours. Information is gathered through:
- Observation across settings
- Interviews with family, carers, teachers, and support workers
- Review of incident reports and existing plans
- Data collection on when, where, and how behaviours occur
Step 3: Collaborative Planning
Strategies are co-designed with the person and their team.
This ensures the plan is realistic, culturally appropriate, and practical to implement day to day, while also reflecting the person’s goals and strengths.
Step 4: Writing and Implementing the Plan
The behaviour support plan is documented clearly and shared with all relevant people.
Training and coaching are provided so everyone understands how to apply the strategies consistently.
Step 5: Monitoring and Review
Progress is monitored through data, feedback, and regular check-ins.
Plans are formally reviewed at least annually, or sooner if needs change, to ensure supports remain effective, relevant, and responsive over time.
Understanding Functional Behaviour Assessment
A Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA) is the foundation of effective Positive Behaviour Support planning.
Rather than focusing only on what a behaviour looks like, an FBA helps everyone understand why the behaviour is happening and what the person may be communicating through it.
An FBA is a structured, evidence-based process used to identify the function or purpose of behaviours of concern.
Behaviours usually serve a meaningful purpose for the person, such as:
- Avoiding or escaping a situation that feels overwhelming or unsafe
- Gaining attention, connection, or reassurance from others
- Regulating sensory input (for example, coping with noise, touch, or movement)
- Accessing preferred items, activities, or routines
By understanding the function of behaviour, practitioners can design strategies that meet the same need in safer, more effective ways.
To build this understanding, practitioners gather information from multiple sources. This may include:
- ABC charts (looking at what happens before the behaviour, the behaviour itself, and what happens after)
- Interviews and questionnaires with the person, family members, carers, teachers, or support workers
- Direct observation across different environments, such as home, school, or community settings
What’s Included in a High-Quality PBS Plan?
Not all behaviour support plans are equal.
A high-quality Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) plan goes beyond generic advice and provides clear, practical guidance that families, carers, and support workers can confidently follow in everyday settings.
Proactive and Environmental Strategies
These focus on preventing behaviours of concern by reducing stressors and improving predictability. Strategies may include:
- Adjusting routines, schedules, or transitions
- Improving communication supports (such as visuals or simplified language)
- Sensory accommodations that reduce overload
- Creating clear structure, consistency, and predictability
Teaching and Skill-Building
Effective plans outline how new skills will be taught over time, including:
- Functional communication skills
- Emotional regulation strategies
- Coping and self-management tools
- Social skills and daily living skills that support independence
Replacement Behaviours
Clear alternatives are identified so the person can meet the same underlying need in a safer, more effective way.
These replacement behaviours are realistic, achievable, and matched to the person’s abilities.
Reactive and Crisis Strategies
Plans include clear responses for moments of escalation, focusing on:
- De-escalation and emotional safety
- Calm, consistent responses across support settings
- Protecting the dignity of the person and those supporting them
Restrictive Practice Reduction
A good PBS plan should feel practical, respectful, and achievable, supporting safer environments, clearer communication, and better quality of life, without overwhelming the people using it.
If restrictive practices are included, the plan clearly documents:
- Why are they currently required
- How they will be monitored and reviewed
- Strategies to reduce and eliminate their use over time, in line with NDIS requirements
Positive Behaviour Support and the NDIS
Positive Behaviour Support and the NDIS are closely linked through the Capacity Building – Improved Relationships budget.
This funding is designed to support people living with disability to reduce behaviours of concern, strengthen relationships, and improve safety, participation, and quality of life.
Under the NDIS, PBS focuses on understanding why behaviours occur and building long-term skills, rather than simply managing behaviour in the moment.
Relevant NDIS line items may include Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support, Behaviour Support Plan Development, and Behaviour Management Plan with Training, depending on individual needs.
When approved, Improved Relationships funding can be used for the full PBS process, including:
- Behaviour support assessments, including Functional Behaviour Assessments
- Development of an individualised behaviour support plan
- Training and coaching for parents, carers, teachers, and support workers
- Ongoing implementation, monitoring, and regular plan review
What Evidence is Usually Required?
To access Positive Behaviour Support funding under the NDIS, the NDIA typically looks for evidence that behaviours of concern are having a significant impact on daily life, safety, or participation.
Clear, consistent evidence helps demonstrate that PBS is reasonable and necessary under the NDIS. This may include:
- Incident reports from home, school, or support services
- Letters from schools, childcare services, or disability providers
- Allied health reports (such as OT, psychology, or speech pathology)
- Documentation showing risks to safety, reduced community access, or strained relationships
How to Request PBS Funding in Your NDIS Plan?
One of the most important factors in securing PBS funding is strong, well-worded goals that clearly link behaviours of concern to safety, participation, and wellbeing.
Positive Behaviour Support funding can be requested at several points in the NDIS journey, including:
- During initial NDIS planning
- At a scheduled plan reassessment
- Through a change of circumstances, request if behaviours escalate or environments change
Example goal wording:
“To build safer ways to express emotions and reduce behaviours of concern so I can participate more confidently at home, school, and in the community.”
Goals like this clearly align Positive Behaviour Support with the NDIS focus on capacity building, relationships, and inclusion.
If you’re unsure how to gather evidence, explain behaviours of concern, or word goals in an NDIS-aligned way, speaking with a Positive Behaviour Support provider early can make the process far smoother.
Early guidance helps ensure your plan accurately reflects your needs and supports meaningful, long-term change rather than crisis-driven responses.
Restrictive Practices and Your Rights
Restrictive practices are interventions that limit a person’s movement, freedom, or access to their environment.
These may include physical restraint, chemical restraint (medication used to influence behaviour), seclusion, or environmental restrictions such as locked doors or restricted access to items.
Under the NDIS, restrictive practices are tightly regulated because they directly impact a person’s human rights, dignity, and autonomy.
They are not behaviour management tools, but measures of last resort used only when there is a serious and immediate risk of harm.
A core aim of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is to reduce reliance on restrictive practices by understanding the function of behaviours, improving environments, strengthening communication, and teaching safer alternative skills.
Under NDIS requirements:
- Restrictive practices must only be used after proactive and preventative strategies have been tried
- They must be authorised where required under state or territory laws
- They must be clearly documented in a behaviour support plan
- They must be reported to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
- They must include a clear strategy to reduce and eliminate their use over time
Your Rights Under the NDIS
You have the right to:
- Understand which restrictive practices are being used and why
- Be actively involved in behaviour support planning and reviews
- Receive support that prioritises dignity, safety, and the least restrictive approach
How Families and Support Teams Can Make PBS Work Day-to-Day
Positive Behaviour Support is most effective when it is lived every day, not just documented in a plan.
Real change happens when strategies are consistently applied across all environments, including home, school, work, and community settings.
Consistency helps reduce confusion and stress for the person being supported. When everyone responds in similar ways, routines feel safer and more predictable.
Ongoing training, coaching, and open communication between families, carers, educators, and support workers are key to keeping everyone aligned and confident.
Most importantly, the person’s voice must remain central. Regular check-ins about what feels helpful, what feels overwhelming, and what no longer works help keep the plan relevant.
PBS plans should grow and adapt alongside the person, not stay fixed.
Tracking Progress and Knowing When to Review
Progress within PBS is about more than reducing behaviours of concern.
It also focuses on building skills, strengthening relationships, and improving overall quality of life. Moreover, Progress may be monitored through:
- Changes in the frequency, intensity, or duration of behaviours
- Greater participation in daily routines, learning, and community life
- Improvements in emotional regulation, communication, and confidence
- Increased feelings of safety, predictability, and well-being
Regular review ensures behaviour support remains responsive, ethical, and person-centred supporting safety, dignity, and long-term wellbeing as the person’s needs and circumstances change.
Formal reviews are recommended when there are significant changes, such as:
- Behaviours increasing, decreasing, or changing in nature
- Changes to environments, routines, or support teams
- Restrictive practices being introduced or used more frequently
How Affective Care Supports You
At Affective Care, we believe effective Positive Behaviour Support is built on understanding, collaboration, and respect for each person’s lived experience.
Our approach is practical, ethical, and emotionally centred, ensuring support feels meaningful, respectful, and sustainable in everyday life. Here is how Affective Care can support you;
- Person-centred, strengths-based PBS that focuses on understanding the why behind behaviours of concern
- Collaborative planning with participants, families, carers, schools, and support teams
- Comprehensive Functional Behaviour Assessments to inform effective, evidence-based strategies
- Practical, easy-to-use behaviour support plans that support daily life, not just compliance
- Proactive strategies that prioritise prevention, skill building, and emotional regulation
- Clear, NDIS-compliant documentation aligned with Quality and Safeguards Commission requirements
- Ethical reduction and elimination of restrictive practices through ongoing review and coaching
- Training and guidance for carers and support workers to ensure consistent implementation
- Compassionate, emotionally aware approach that values dignity, safety, and meaningful relationships
Creating Safer, Calmer, More Connected Lives
Positive Behaviour Support planning is not about blame or control. It is about understanding, compassion, and practical change that supports emotional safety, dignity, and everyday well-being.
When support is provided early and thoughtfully, it helps families feel safer, strengthens relationships, and empowers people living with disability to build greater confidence, choice, and stability in their lives.
If behaviours of concern are affecting life at home, school, or within services, you don’t have to manage them alone.
You can contact Affective Care for compassionate, emotionally centred support and guidance. Reaching out sooner rather than later can ease the pressure and create meaningful, lasting change for everyone involved.
