What is Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and Where Did it Originate?
PBS provides a process to understand and resolve the problem behavior of individuals or children that is based on values and empirical research. It offers an approach to develop an understanding of why the child engages in problem behavior and strategies to prevent the occurrence of problem behavior while teaching the child new skills. Positive behavior support offers a holistic approach that considers all factors that have an impact on a child and the child’s behavior. It can be used to address problem behaviors that range from aggression, tantrums, and property destruction to social withdrawal. In the early 1980’s, there were important advances in the design and application of interventions for challenging behavior. These advances were driven by research on innovations in approaches for behavior change and shifts in cultural values about the use of aversive and dehumanizing intervention practices with vulnerable populations. The nonaversive technology that emerged in the late 1980’s
