Positive Behavior Support

A relative newcomer to the literature on management of difficult behavior, and even more recently school reform, positive behavior support (PBS) traces its origins to the science of applied behavior analysis. As such, it is an extension of operant conditioning learning theory into a broader context of “discipline,” or the management of problem behavior in family, school, and community settings. Operant conditioning originated in the early 20th century from animal learning experiments conducted by Skinner and students at Harvard University. These experiments led to a breakthrough in conceptions of how organisms learn by showing that particular forms of behavior are learned in response to what follows them (i.e., reinforcement or punishment) in a contingent relationship, hence the term operant conditioning. Its extension to child-learning and applications to the modification of human behavior can be traced to the mid-1960s and the appearance of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

The term positive behavior support first appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was largely identified with research in special education as distinguished from applied behavior analysis, which has been from its outset more closely identified with clinical and child psychology. With its focus on problem behavior, often associated with disabilities in the broader context of schools, PBS distanced itself from the use of punishers, or aversive consequences for management of problem behavior. The “positive” in PBS reflects the emerging theoretical perspective that even the most challenging behavior can be managed without resorting to all but the mildest forms of punishment. This position has engendered controversy that continues in various forms to the present day. Many researchers and practitioners associated with applied behavior analysis argue that punishment has always been a small and decreasing part of that applied science, and that PBS, with its broader context of application and its close ties to the normalization-inclusion movement within special education, lacks some of the scientific rigor that has historically been a hallmark of applied behavior analysis.

Positive behavior support is addressed to broad outcomes framed as comprehensive lifestyle changes and enhancements in quality of life. The conceptual “heart” of PBS is functional behavioral assessment (FBA), a comprehensive approach to assessment that is addressed to the question of why a problem behavior is [Page 391]occurring. It asks, what function is this behavior serving for the individual, and what alternatives might be identified that can be taught to the individual that are socially acceptable and that can replace the problem behavior in the individual's repertoire? This emphasis on the functions of challenging behavior positions PBS as a pedagogy and thus enables its practitioners and researchers to fully identify with and contribute to the teaching-learning mission of schools.

Positive behavior support has emerged as a highly contextualized applied science that focuses on conducting rigorous research with carefully controlled applications in complex “naturalistic” school and community environments. The “support” part of PBS reflects its emphasis on prevention, first of the emergence of even more antisocial behavior if not addressed early on; and secondly, of the possibility of removal of the individual from mainstream participation in school and community life because of unchecked antisocial behavior.

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