Positive behaviour support Getting it right from the start

Positive behaviour support: Getting it right from the start - Facilitators reference manual 19
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Perceptions
Perception
‘… a way of seeing or understanding things ’
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1. We all see the world differently:
because of our education, socialisation, upbringing, different experiences, class, background
and so on.
2. Our perceptions are a result of a complex interaction of internal and external factors:
how we feel at the time, the situation we are in, our socialisation experiences, and interactions
with others (for example, if I am feeling negative there is nothing my partner can do right).
3. We generally accept our perceptions and the interpretations we make based on them,
as a true representation of reality:
everything in our past and about us tells us that what we see and know is correct. This is how
we make sense of the world categorising and matching with our memories of our experiences.
This can be a problem when we come up against other individuals who believe they also have a
true representation of reality.
How to check perceptions of behaviours
• Involve the person, support professionals, parents and advocates in deciding whether a
behaviour is a problem.
• Be consistent with what is generally considered as normal for living situations, for example,
think of living with five people, think of the people living with you and the confrontations you
have in daily living,
Don’t deny the reality of shared living. Situations where people live together are characterised
by frequent difficulties and disagreements and occasional periods of stress. These dimensions
are part of normal daily life and as natural for people with disabilities living together as they are
for others.
• Whatever the reason, the efforts of support professionals to provide people with tranquil
lives by eliminating all conflict are not only unreasonable, but they can be perceived and
experienced by support professionals as oppressive.
• Be flexible and open to different perspectives.
• Continually change your own motives and methods in supporting people who show
behaviours of concern.
• As support professionals, we have an unusual degree of power in that we can easily, in
our position, curb behaviour which does not personally fit in with our values. We should
be conscious of this when interacting with clients and be conscious of our behaviour,
such as body language, tone of voice and expectations.