Creativity in Action:
How to Update Positive Behaviour Support Plans’
By Bethan Davies, Sophie Fowles and Tiegan Wakeham
Beechwood College
Beechwood College follows a person-centred approach that is grounded in the principles of positive behaviour support (PBS)
PBS Update Checklist
Values audit
Observations
Brief Behaviour Assessment Tool (BBAT)
Staff interviews
Student interviews
Family interviews (where appropriate)
Talking Mats
• Provides a visual framework to help students express their views and feelings
• It allows processing time and communication without speech
• Topic of interest at the top, followed by scales
• Example- Topic: All About Me; Scales: Like/Don’t Like/Don’t know
Case Study 1: Frank
Frank’s diagnoses:
• ASC
• ADHD
• PICA
Challenges:
• Information overload from too many symbols on a page.
• Difficulty choosing and categorising symbols.
• Unable to engage in prolonged periods of time.
Case Study 2: Sarah
Challenges:
Sarah’s diagnoses:
• No formal diagnosis however, demonstrates characteristics of ASC
• Experiences high levels of anxiety
• High distress occurring due to fear of failure
• Distress escalating to incidents
• Declining to engage in education sessions due to belief that she would be unable to complete the work
Case Study 3: George
George’s diagnoses:
• I have key diagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Anxiety
• I likely have a moderate learning disability
Challenges:
• Engages in significant levels of behaviours that challenge (BtC)
• Doesn’t follow typical ‘patterns of behaviour’ that we use within the PBS plan.
Five P’s Case Formulation
The process
How we gained the information;
• Preadmission documentation
• Behaviour analysis
• Attended the team day to speak to all the staff that support George
• Adapted questionnaire
• Group discussion
Five P’s
Predisposing factors (factors that make him vulnerable):
• Difficult/unstable family relationships
• Removed from family home at 13 years old
Precipitating factors (triggers):
• Being supported by unfamiliar staff
• Feeling / being ignored
Presenting problems (behaviours):
• Physical/Verbal/Environmental aggression
• Self injurious behaviour,
• Socially/sexually inappropriate behaviour
Perpetuating factors (keeps the problem going):
• Unfamiliar staff
• Gaining further interaction from staff following BtC reinforces the behaviour
Protective factors (source of strength):
• Social
• Great sense of humour
• Caring person
• Lots of interests/ activities – distraction
