Examples of Skill-Building in Positive Supports

In Module 1 and 2, positive behavior support was described as a framework that helps us create supportive environments and improve social and emotional skills to promote successful communication in our social interactions. Research in the disability field has shown us that challenging behavior often occurs for a reason and that the function that maintains a behavior is a way to communicate something important. The challenging behavior that we observe is communicating that:

• We need or want to access someone or something
• We are trying to avoid or escape from someone or something

Promoting communication is an important skill-building activity at all three tiers of positive behavior support. The goal is to assess our own preferred communication strategies and to learn more about the major ways in which the children and adults we support are communicating what is important to and for them in their lives.