Behaviour is Communication.

Simply put, behaviour is all about how we act or behave in a situation or under particular conditions.

Everything we do is ‘behaviour’, and everybody communicates through their behaviour.

A person with additional learning challenges such as Autism, FASD or an additional disability, may behave in ways that are unexpected or unusual in order to communicate effectively in a situation.

For example, a child may suddenly touch, push or pull another student. The student being touched may think they are being 'hit', where the other student is try to engage them, or initiate play, as they are in the parallel play phase. In this situation, the behaviour function is to communicate an intention or purpose, however, some of these behaviours are not considered appropriate, in the school context.

As a school, we need to teach the student an appropriate replacement behaviour to gain other child/ren's attention, which takes time and understanding, from all parties concerned.

Behaviour is contextual. It’s more than just what the person does. It involves the interaction between the person, their specific situation, their environment, and the other people around them. So, to understand behaviour we need to look beyond what we merely see on the surface.

It’s important to remember that the underlying difficulties related to learning challenges, can contribute to behaviours.

Behaviour has a purpose and is functional.

Behaviour is a form of communication that can convey an important message.  There is always a reason for the way we behave.

At times, behaviours may be viewed as challenging to manage. However, behaviours don’t happen because the person is intentionally trying to be ‘difficult’, and they generally don’t “come out of the blue”, even if the cause isn’t immediately obvious. Behaviour often indicates that the person is unable to cope at that moment and can’t express why, in a typical way.  It is frequently the result of a clash between the demands of the situation and the person’s skills to respond, and is influenced by how they feel, what has happened before and what is happening around them at the time.

The impact of these behaviours is what makes them challenging, both for the person and those around them.

Behaviour is called ‘challenging’ because it challenges those who support the person to understand why it is happening (like parents, carers, teachers and professionals).

Behaviour usually has 2 main functions:  to get or get away from something (like an item, an activity, a sensation, attention or a person).

To prevent a behaviour from occurring (or to reduce the likelihood of it happening again), we first need to understand the purpose of the behaviour. To understand why a behaviour happens, we need to consider all the contributing factors — the person’s characteristics; their skills; the environment that they are in; the expectations placed on them; and the other people involved in the situation, and then we need to teach them to replace the current behaviour with something more desirable and socially acceptable.

Remember:

• It is the behaviour that is challenging, not the person.
• There is always a reason for behaviour. If we want to change a behaviour, we first need to explore why it is happening and understand the function it serves.
• Just because behaviour has a purpose, doesn't mean it is being done on purpose.

 A Positive Behaviour Support Approach

The reason for each person’s behaviour of concern is different. Behaviour usually occurs not because of only one reason, but many. Understanding how learning challenges, difficulties and disorders impacts the person, can be helpful when exploring the possible reasons for a challenging behaviour.

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), which we use at River Valley Primary School, is an evidence-based approach aimed at improving a person’s quality of life and reducing the impact of challenging behaviour. This framework has a strong values base and seeks to understand the person’s behaviour in context.

A Positive Behaviour Support Approach allows for a more holistic perspective, where it is recognised that behaviour is a form of communication and that there is always a reason behind what is happening. 

Why do we use a Positive Behaviour Support Approach?

• PBS is an evidence-based approach, meaning that high-quality research has proven it to be successful.
• PBS is underpinned by a strong commitment to enhancing quality of life, and promoting community inclusion and participation.
• PBS uses assessments that look beyond the behaviour itself and considers the interaction between the person, their environment and the people around them.
• PBS involves several steps that help us to collaboratively identify, prioritise and describe behaviours and establishes common ground among all those involved.
• PBS involves the development of an individualised plan which summarise the supports the person, and their significant others, requires to make positive changes to address unmet needs.
• PBS develops the skills of the person (like helping them find more effective ways to communicate and building on everyday living skills) to help them experience success and personal satisfaction.
• PBS is a collaborative approach that includes the important people in the person’s life, like their family members, carers, staff, teachers, employers etc. This means that support is more likely to be implemented across all settings of the person’s life, thus having a greater and more enduring impact.