If you’re supporting someone whose behaviour is causing real difficulty, whether that’s your child, a family member, or someone you care for, you’ve probably already tried a lot of things. Positive behaviour support (PBS) is an NDIS-funded approach that starts somewhere different to most of them. Not with rules or consequences, but with understanding why the behaviour is happening in the first place.
This guide explains what NDIS positive behaviour support actually involves, who it’s for, and what to look for when choosing a practitioner in Adelaide.
Not sure if PBS is the right support? Get in touch with the Holistic Me team and we’ll talk it through with you.
Positive behaviour support is an evidence-based approach to understanding and responding to behaviour that causes difficulty. It’s built on the idea that challenging behaviour usually has a function. It’s communicating something, meeting a need, or responding to a situation. The right response is to understand that function and help the person find better ways to get their needs met, not simply to stop the behaviour.
This matters because approaches that focus on suppressing behaviour without addressing what’s driving it rarely hold up over time. PBS works differently. It starts with curiosity.
A PBS practitioner will spend time understanding what’s happening before, during, and after the behaviour. From there, they build a support plan that outlines proactive strategies (changes to environment, routines, communication, or relationships that reduce the likelihood of the behaviour) alongside reactive strategies (what to do when behaviour occurs, to keep everyone safe and help the person settle).
PBS is funded through the NDIS and is most commonly used for participants who experience:
It’s relevant across age groups: children, adolescents, and adults. And it’s not just for participants whose behaviour is severe. PBS is appropriate wherever behaviour is creating barriers to participation, relationships, learning, or quality of life.
If your NDIS plan includes behaviour support, your support coordinator can help you find and engage a practitioner. If you’re not sure whether it’s in your plan, our guide to what to expect from NDIS support services is a good place to start.
Before any behaviour support plan is written, a PBS practitioner conducts a functional behaviour assessment (FBA). This is a careful process of understanding the behaviour. What it looks like, when it happens, where, who’s around, what tends to come before it, and what the person seems to be getting from it.
The assessment typically involves:
The FBA is what gives a behaviour support plan its direction. Without it, strategies are educated guesses at best. With it, the plan reflects a genuine understanding of the person and what their behaviour is trying to communicate.
For NDIS participants with behaviour support funded in their plan, the assessment is covered by that funding and is a required step before any restrictive practice can be authorised.
A behaviour support plan is written for everyone in the person’s life, not just the professionals. It needs to make sense to family members, support workers, and teachers who are supporting the person every day across different environments.
A good plan covers:
Proactive strategies. Changes to environment, routines, communication, and relationships that reduce the conditions that make the behaviour more likely. This is the most important part of PBS. The goal is always prevention before response.
Teaching strategies. Building the skills the person needs to get their needs met in different ways. Communication, emotional regulation, social skills, and coping strategies.
Reactive strategies. What to do when behaviour occurs. The focus is on keeping everyone safe and helping the person return to calm as quickly as possible.
Restrictive practices (where applicable). In cases where behaviour poses a risk of serious harm, the plan may include restricted practices. In South Australia, any authorised restrictive practice must comply with NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission requirements.
Talk to the Holistic Me team about behaviour support in Adelaide.
A formal PBS assessment gives you the most tailored, evidence-backed support. But if you’re waiting to access a practitioner, or you want somewhere to start, these are strategies that many families find helpful in the meantime.
Predictability reduces anxiety. Many challenging behaviours are driven by uncertainty. Visual schedules, consistent routines, and clear warnings before transitions can reduce the unpredictability that makes behaviour more likely.
Look at what comes before. Keep a simple record of what happened immediately before a behaviour occurs. Over time, patterns often emerge. Certain times of day, specific environments, sensory triggers, or social situations.
Respond to the need, not just the behaviour. When a child becomes distressed at the dinner table, the behaviour might be communicating overwhelm, hunger, sensory discomfort, or a need for some control over the situation. Addressing the underlying need is almost always more effective than responding to the behaviour itself.
Teach, don’t just tell. If someone doesn’t yet have the skills to manage a situation differently, telling them to behave differently doesn’t work. They need to be taught the alternative, and that takes time, consistency, and the right support behind it.
These are starting points. A PBS practitioner can take them much further by building strategies specific to your family member’s profile and circumstances. Our page on social skills development through NDIS is also worth a read if building social confidence is part of what you’re working toward.
Positive behaviour support works when it’s done well. When it starts with a real understanding of the person, when strategies are practical enough for families and support workers to actually use, and when the plan gets reviewed and adjusted as things change.
If you’re in Adelaide and wondering whether PBS is the right next step, we’re happy to have that conversation. You can also read more about NDIS community access and participation if building connection and independence is part of the picture alongside behaviour support.
Contact Holistic Me to talk through behaviour support options in Adelaide.
Yes. PBS is funded through the NDIS under Capacity Building, typically under Improved Daily Living. You need that funding in your plan before a practitioner can be engaged. If it’s not in your current plan and you think it would help, it’s worth raising at your next plan review.
Behaviour support must be delivered by a registered NDIS provider. The level of the practitioner’s registration determines what they’re authorised to do. Only Senior or Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioners can write behaviour support plans that involve restrictive practices.
PBS is specifically focused on behaviour and environment. Counselling and psychology address mental health, emotional wellbeing, and therapeutic goals. They can work alongside each other, but they’re different disciplines.
This varies significantly depending on the person, the behaviour, and how consistently the plan is implemented. Proactive strategies often show impact within a few weeks. More complex situations can take months of consistent work. The key is consistency across all settings.
Yes. A good behaviour support plan is written for all environments where the behaviour occurs. Your practitioner should be liaising with school staff and supporting them to implement strategies consistently.
