Positive Behavior Support (PBS) has been identified as an effective strategy to identify and eradicate the triggers of problematic behaviors among students. Researchers reveal that this intervention promotes independence, participation and enhanced quality of life by reinforcing target behaviors when they occur (McKim and Samuel, 2021). However, this strategy can only be applied after a functional behavior assessment (FBA) which describes the specific characteristics of the conduct exhibited (Noone et al., 2021). The PBS framework identifies the functions of problem behavior, positive reinforcement for targeted habits and coaching to eradicate challenging conducts (Park et al., 2019). It also alters the environment that promotes problem behaviors by changing structures, systems, norms and schedules of learning to support better practices (Meidl and Vanorsdale, 2018). However, the efficacy of this intervention has never been determined, considering most studies indicate the need to use additional reinforcement techniques for better results. Therefore, The PBS’s conceptual and philosophical principles, efficacy, and the consequences of some exclusive systems in its implementation are addressed.
Critical Analysis of PBS
Positive behavioral support (PBS) is a generic phrase referring to a systematic, research-based, progressive approach to behavioral interventions for students exhibiting disruptive behavior. Examples of challenging behaviors include tantrums, hyperactivity, non-conformity to instructions, verbal and physical aggression (Adamson et al., 2019). Hayward et al. (2020) posit that PBS enables analysts to determine the exact causes of problematic behaviors such as boredom, frustrations, escape, attention or control. They mention that these are the main triggers to problem behaviors among students (Hayward et al., 2020). After causes are identified, a corresponding intervention is applied to reduce the problem behavior.
PBS widens behavioral intervention from a single strategy to various techniques, including restructuring systems, changing settings, instructional strategies, and acknowledging positive conduct. According to a study by Clark et al. (2020) the purpose of PBS is not to “eradicate” undesirable behavior but instead, the goal is for the student to comprehend the behavior’s purpose, which is one of the unique characteristics of PBS. In a mixed-methods study, these authors examine how PBS can be used in a clinical setting. (Clark et al., 2020), mentioned that PBS is a methodological framework that requires a systematic approach for proper implementation. They conclude that PBS implementation should follow a tiered approach such as restructuring settings and then changing instructional strategies to avoid confusion in identifying the functions of behavior.
PBS also derives its precepts from applied behavior analysis, inclusion systems and person-centered values. Hayward et al. (2020) emphasize that this interconnected dynamic has promoted several functional analyses, such as determining motivation, direct assessment of behavior, and applying empirical methodologies. McKim and Samuel (2021) also mention that PBS applies various components of the contingency framework, such as reinforcing consequence and response to a stimulus. This claim reinforces Hayward et al. (2020) idea, which indicates that PBS is an evidence-based system that draws its concepts from other behavior models such as person-centered strategy. Generally, Hayward et al. (2020) McKim and Samuel (2021) mention that PBS has replicated similar assessment and intervention strategies, including shaping, chaining, prompting, fading and reinforcement. All these systems are interconnected since they are all components of applied behavior analysis.
Another consideration is that PBS supports inclusion by advocating for mainstream settings where students diagnosed with different special needs can find the same opportunities to promote normalcy. Adamson et al. (2019) share similar sentiments with Hayward et al. (2020) on inclusion. They all agree that the normalization of PBS systems ensures that individuals devalued for their disabilities access resources that help them assume their responsibilities without any hindrances. These authors discuss normalization as an inclusion strategy that eradicates prejudice of any form using diverse data findings and analysis from other searches. The authors explain that inclusivity and normalizing PBS processes ensure that students in need of special education are accorded the respect they deserve (Hayward et al., 2020). Additionally, the PBS philosophy embraces person-centered values by promoting holistic approaches to problem-solving and considering individual needs and weaknesses, ensuring that their flaws do not define them.
This strategy focuses on meeting the needs of an individual through a multidimensional construct that considers their decision making, creating solutions, goal setting, independence, and advocacy (Hayward et al., 2020). These concepts are promoted to ensure that persons with disabilities are modeled to become the best versions of themselves without putting pressure or comparing them to their peers and self-determination. Hakim and Shah (2017) mention that PBS can be used to control difficult situations such as bullying behaviors. These authors explore the self-determination concept through secondary data analysis, revealing that PBS entails altering systems and restructuring settings to decrease extrinsic or coercive effects (Hakim and Shah, 2017). The system works by empowering people with disabilities to be the primary motivation agent in their lives. This procedure can result in a better quality of life in employment conditions, housing circumstances, relations, and self-gratification.
Elements that are Integral for the Success of PBS
The most integral principles to enhancing PBS’s outcome are Interprofessional collaborative, person-centered planning, and behavior support. According to Sugai and Horner (2020), PBS begins by developing a special task force of people close to the student who can provide information about the client to enable the analysis to provide the best intervention. Park et al. (2019) suggest that students’ parents, educators, therapists, and administrative personnel should be part of the PBS task force. This team forms an essential part of PBS’s success, considering that they will help implement the intervention at different levels to initiate change. In addition, family participation ensures that social, emotional, physical and academic support is guaranteed to enhance its success.
Parents provide information concerning the history of the child in terms of behaviors exhibited from when they were young and their academic performance throughout their schooling years. Park et al. (2019) agree that information given by parents can then be used to devise a better strategy to counter the problem behavior exhibited. For example, some students may exhibit disruptive behaviors such as self-cutting to cope with stress at home. Maybe the family is facing a financial crisis, divorce or even the death of a loved one. This information can only be uncovered if the family members are included in the team. Family involvement is necessary to promote the success of this intervention since they reinforce the system devised by implementing it at home to ensure consistency and effective results.
The educators are equally important in promoting PBS’s success since they help enforce the intervention in school. In a study analyzing the implementation of PBS in special schools through a cross-sectional study design, Park et al. (2019) discovered that teachers were integral since they demonstrated vast knowledge in the PBS formulation processes such as functional assessment and multi-tiered support planning. Adamson et al. (2019) also mentions that teachers are instrumental in this process since they provide test evaluations and behavioral conduct examination, enabling analysts to prescribe the best counteractive intervention to eliminates undesirable behaviors. For instance, educators mostly report when children are hyperactive or disconnected in class (Sugai and Horner, 2020). Through such information, they create an environment that supports better behaviors after assessing the causes of such behaviors. The behavior analyst is an important member of this committee because they provide clinical analysis of the conduct exhibited, offering the best interventions.
The administrative representative should also be included since they provide counsel regarding the state’s resources and recommendations to support the client’s well-being. A practical example is when developing an individualized education plan (IEP), the administrative personnel must be present (Hawken et al., 2019). For instance, the administrative representative can help select the best school and resources such as hearing aid to enable students to have a better education experience and maximize their potential (Hawken et al., 2019). This role indicates that their presence is important in ensuring students benefit from all school-based programs.
Person-centered planning is another relevant strategy that dictates the outcome of a PBS intervention. This system is driven by freedom of autonomy, which encourages individuals to be part of the change process. Kincaid (2018) expounds on this topic, suggesting that PBS allows students to participate driven by their skills, not deficits or impairment. Students learn to replicate poor behaviors with preferred ones through this strategy since attaining each goal will attract reinforcement (Kincaid, 2018). Through this strategy, the teams support the student’s strengths by supporting their talents and skills to promote the target behavior.
A Reflection on the underpinnings of PBS
There are two important frameworks in behaviorist practice, including conceptual and philosophical principles. Hawken et al. (2020) provide a methodological explanation of the concepts and theories in PBS. They mention that the conceptual framework consists of value-based factual and inclusive practice that provides equal opportunities. These factors are the basis of effective operations and evidence-based practice, which supports better outcomes. The PBS competence framework encompasses all the mentioned considerations since it ensures that the system created provides high-quality care and support for the individual. As Hollins and Steckley (2020) advice, the important rule to maintain is the evidence-based practice as a behavior analyst. This system ensures that all practices are value-led and individualized to support behavior change. Evidence practice encourages the team to ensure support provided matches the goals and needs of the client. This practice can be done by assessing the connection between their environment and the provided analysis, knowing their health status and abilities. This strategy ensures that the data used is factual to avoid discrimination.
PBS is a team-based system requiring analysts to make friends with their clients to support better progress. Developing a good rapport is an important consideration since it enhances inclusivity. As Kincaid (2018) elaborated, cohesion can be achieved by encouraging clients to share their likes and dislikes, family history, and social life to find common ground supporting this engagement. This strategy is similar to the concept of Hawken et al. (2020), explaining how social contact encourages interactions in ways that suit the parties involved. The system encourages an individualized approach considering the rapport created that ensures students access equal opportunities despite the sophistication of their needs. In such cases, the behavior analyst is responsible for implementing most of the requirements in facilitating equal opportunities (Hakim and Shah, 2017). In addition, they can provide peer support and suggest the best alternatives to enhance behavioral change.
Philosophies that have also shaped the functions and implementation of PBS include an emphasis on prevention, multicomponent intervention, and social validity. Hollins and Steckley (2020) elaborate that PBS practice is a continuous process that ensures the students transition smoothly to different levels of life with adequate provision of coping mechanisms as unique adaptive skills. The factual PBS approach is endless considering the fact that follow-ups are assessed after several years or decades with new standards identified to enhance new approaches created (Hakim and Shah, 2017). I find this system comprehensive, and a bonus to the system since data is stored for reference, indicating that situations such as misdiagnosis of behavior cannot happen when behavior analysts confirm their information.
Another integral concept is multicomponent intervention. The PBS law is that behavior analysts should focus on fixing the issue and not the problem behavior when dealing with undesirable conduct. This factor helps promote meaningful change by looking beyond the weaknesses and enhancing better practices (Hollins and Steckley, 2020). Meaningful change is supported by restructuring the approach to enhance behavior change by ensuring that incentives and other resources are available to motivate the student to adopt new techniques. As a behavioral analyst, I consider flexibility an integral motivation towards making greater change. Different behavioral intervention systems enable the expert to customize the best intervention that suits their client to maximize the outcome. Therefore, this philosophy is vital in PBS practice considering it allows for an opportunity for creativity.
Another philosophical approach is social validity, whereby efficacy is measured by outcome. This strategy effectively filters out viable and outdated systems to enable continuous improvement. PBS interventions such as appraisals have been used for years. The method has been proven to function effectively in restoring better behaviors by practical case study analysis research such as the one done by Clark et al. (2020). Looking at this system, it is justified that PBS advocates for peace and celebration of strengths, unlike other interventions that demonize disruptive behaviors. The ideas presented are the basis of behaviorist practice and guide strategies when dealing with problematic conduct.
The Challenges Associated with PBS Implementation
This strategy is a multi-tiered and inclusive system. The challenges behaviorist face when implementing the intervention is non-compliance, teaching alternative skills and an exclusive education system. According to (Adamson et al., 2019), the implementation of PBS interventions requires parents, educators and the therapist to collaborate to ensure that the intervention chain is not broken since this reduces the efficacy of the intervention. This situation is prevalent in every school-wide PBS intervention since parents or teachers may fail on their end, affecting the development of this process (Adamson et al., 2019). For instance, student M does not like doing homework given by the teacher. After the assessment, the therapist identified that boredom is the cause of this action and has prescribed positive reinforcement when the child finishes their homework.
The educator and the parents are advised to consider implementing this technique by rewarding M with favorite fruit as an appreciation when they exhibit better behaviors. The parents try to fully implement this strategy by rewarding them when they finish their assignments at home. However, the methodological approach breaks when the assignment is delivered to the teacher, and the student is not rewarded (Hawken et al., 2020). As a result, this intervention is destroyed, and its efficacy compromised, meaning that none of the parties involved will benefit in such a scenario. However, suppose the teacher adheres to the prescription (Hawken et al., 2020). In that case, the student will be motivated to finish their assignments on time, hoping to be rewarded each time, enhancing the target behavior.
Another challenge is teaching alternative behaviors to counter disruptive conduct. When therapists try to modify behavior, students may exhibit withdrawn symptoms such as unresponsiveness or shyness. (Davies et al., 2019) says that this hindrance limits the implementation of the new strategy, which can increasingly hinder development. Another common limitation noted by Sugai and Horner (2020) is a curriculum that does not cater for special needs. Most private and public schools operate with the ordinary curricula, which is exclusive. The reason is that it ignores the provisions and considerations that learners with special access have. Therefore, this deprivation has led to the scarcity of individualized learning systems. Therefore, it is crucial to create customized plans that consider all types of students to guarantee equal learning opportunities.
The most sensitive hindrance is the lack of peer understanding in mainstream class systems. No student is taught how to interact with persons with special needs, creating social barriers affecting social interactions. For instance, in an inclusive classroom setting, a student with an IEP plan requiring them to be guided by a paraprofessional may be called a slow learner, which might not be the case. Karhu et al. (2018) mentions that unfair judgment may result in poor interaction since students with special develop inferiority complex and low esteem. Such behaviors affect learning and normalcy for students with special needs, limiting PBS’s efficacy. Another common issue is a curriculum that’s not inclusive of special needs. Most schools design curricula for ordinary students while ignoring the needs and issues that special-needs learners face. As a result, inclusive, individualized learning systems are scarce. It is critical to creating customized plans that consider all types of students to guarantee equal opportunities to study.
Criticism of PBS at Classroom, School and System Level
Various researches have proven that PBS is an effective intervention in eradicating dominant problem behaviors. Most teachers who have used PBS report 80% efficacy, citing that it coaches the student to become responsible without the need to punish them (Hakim and Shah, 2017, p. 166). According to a study done by Karhu et al. (2018), findings from their research imply that persistent universal positive behavior support systems and supplementary behavioral support help students with even severe disruptive behaviors be successfully integrated into the mainstream learning environment. This factor refutes the rationale that PBS can function independently as a change behavior intervention. These authors applied the Check-in Check-out (CICO) on students with ADHD-type behavior. They mention that the retention rate was lower than expected since the students forgot to maintain this practice indicating the need to use additional reinforcement.
This lack of assurance on the efficacy creates a gap in the research about this intervention. Some researchers claim that PBS can eradicate all disruptive behaviors, while others indicate that additional support is required. Park et al. (2019) examined various research questions in their search. One of the questions addressed is “To what extent does SSW-PBS Tier 3 (individual support) affect the students who were provided with the support?” (Park et al., 2019, p. 337). Tier three is the tertiary prevention phase in the PBS implementation, whereby the student receives intense, individualized and problem-focused intervention to improve their outcome.
The PBS functionality depends on fidelity which must align within a specific range. Park et al. (2019) concluded that the school recorded improved behavior after applying PBS intervention with 64% to 86% consistency (p. 337). These findings indicate that PBS is a methodological framework that relies on fidelity. These authors confirm their ideas by citing similar conclusions drawn by previous researchers who dealt with this topic, such as Farkas et al. (2012), Kelm et al. (2014) and Menendez et al. (2008). These researchers discovered inconsistent application and adherence to PBS concepts did not change target behavior.
Research Gaps Identified
The efficacy of PBS interventions such as offering students break time between classes, enhancing proximity and positive phrasing is unprecedented. However, no research supports the viability of this strategy without setting other conditions. For instance, Karhu et al. (2018) mention that PBS should be used alongside supplementary support strategies to enhance positive outcomes. Similarly, Parker et al. (2019) also mention that inconsistent application of PBS results in negative outcomes. Contrasting sentiments are shared by Davies et al. (2019), who examined the impact of PBS in a mental health forensic service. These authors discovered that PBS supported a significant reduction of aggression frequency and reduction in challenging behaviors. They measured progress using the checklist of challenging behavior after six months and discovered that PBS was an effective method of managing challenging behaviors in this mental context Davies et al. (2019, p.38). The framework used was not discussed, meaning that this author ignored the issue of fidelity and supplementary intervention. However, they mention that PBS did not cause any significant change when used in control groups. Therefore there is no specific research justifying the efficacy of this intervention by recording 100% success in the population studied.
PBS is an educationally sound practice since most researchers have noted behavioral improvement after its implementation. For instance, Valdebenito et al. (2019) carried out a systematic review of how school-based intervention such as PBS could reduce the rate at which students are expelled from school. They also concluded that this intervention was vital in reducing problematic behaviors, resulting in student suspension (Valdebenito et al., 2019). However, one question arises whether this intervention can also help restructure the environmental triggers as living in poverty, societal prejudice and domestic violence. Unfortunately, the PBS system focused on teaching new coping skills with the situation and not how to eradicate the triggers.
Most research findings have justified the significant contribution of PBS in changing dominant problem behaviors. The reason is that this framework is evidence-based, which provide a methodological approach to solving problems. Its concepts and philosophies have also played an integral role in promoting better outcomes making the strategy one of the best interventions for problematic behaviors. However, its efficacy is not justified since most studies have suggested other conditions that enhance PBS’s efficiency. This supplementary tactic indicates that PBS is a flawed system that cannot function alone. However, its contribution to changing behavior is unmatched, giving it an upper hand as one of the sustainable interventions. Its impact on environmental triggers such as poverty and broken families is also not explored, creating a significant research gap. This information is vital for educators since it will help them understand the basics of PBS implementation, such as fidelity and supplementary support to maximize a positive outcome.
References
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