Positive behaviour support Getting it right from the start

54 Positive behaviour support: Getting it right from the start - Facilitators reference manual
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Individually list examples of how and why you communicated today.
As a group identify the how and why the person you support communicated on your
last shift.
Are they different and why?
PowerPoint 75
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About behaviours of concern
Between five and 15 per cent of people with an intellectual disability show behaviours of
concern which can present a significant challenge to both the person and those involved in
providing support.
Of these only between two and 20 per cent of people in need of positive behaviour support,
actually receive any kind of behavioural support. Fifty to 60 per cent of people with a disability
showing behaviours of concern will be subject to the restrictive intervention of chemical
restraint, which is psychotropic medication, typically antipsychotics, used for the primary
purpose of behavioural control.
Behaviours of concern can be defined as:
‘…behaviour of such intensity, frequency and duration that the physical safety of the person
or others is placed or is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely
to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to ordinary community
facilities, services and experiences’. Emerson 1995
Examples include:
• aggressive behaviour
• self-injurious behaviour
• property destruction
• fire lighting
• withdrawn behaviour.
The term ‘behaviours of concern’ implies that a higher standard and quality of services is
required than those ordinarily provided to people with an intellectual disability. The behaviours
that the term covers set a challenge to services to improve the way they do things. The term
was first used to encourage service providers and the community to develop better services,
supports and attitudes to address the behavioural difficulties demonstrated by some people with
a disability. (Toogood, Bell, Jacques, Lewis, Sinclair and Wright, 1994).