At Behaviour Help we created the Behaviour Help Cycle to explain the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) process in a practical, structured way.
The cycle brings together three connected stages – Assess, Manage and Prevent – followed by ongoing monitoring and review. Each stage is informed by the person, their circumstances, available assessment evidence and the people who know and support them.
The person remains at the centre of decision-making. Positive Behaviour Support should seek to understand the person’s strengths, needs, preferences, communication, relationships, environments and goals rather than focusing only on reducing behaviours of concern.
What Is the Behaviour Help Cycle?
The Behaviour Help Cycle is Behaviour Help’s framework for organising the Positive Behaviour Support process into Assess, Manage and Prevent stages, with continuous review.
It provides a pathway from understanding why behaviour may be occurring, to responding safely when difficulties arise, to developing proactive supports that reduce the likelihood that behaviour of concern is needed.
Throughout the cycle, the practitioner collaborates with the individual and, where relevant, family members, carers, educators, support workers, allied health professionals, health professionals and other people involved in the person’s life.
What Outcomes Should Positive Behaviour Support Aim For?
The purpose of Positive Behaviour Support is broader than behaviour reduction. The Behaviour Help Cycle aims to support outcomes such as:
Quality of life – increasing access to meaningful relationships, activities, participation, wellbeing and opportunities.
Choice and control – strengthening the person’s autonomy, preferences, self-advocacy and involvement in decisions affecting their life.
Meeting needs – identifying and responding to communication, health, sensory, emotional, environmental, social and practical needs.
Rights and respect – supporting dignity, inclusion, safety, freedom of expression and the least restrictive approach.
Participation and independence – building supports and skills that enable the person to participate in everyday life in ways that are meaningful to them.
Step 1 – Assess: Understand the Person and Why Behaviour May Be Occurring
The Assess Stage involves completing a Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA). An FBA is a systematic process of gathering and analysing information to understand the behaviour, the contexts in which it occurs and the factors that may be contributing to it.
Assessment should integrate qualitative and quantitative information rather than relying on a single incident, questionnaire, observation or person’s interpretation.
The Assess Stage may include:
Person profile – strengths, preferences, communication, relationships, health and wellbeing, sensory needs, routines, environments, important activities, goals and support context.
Clearly defined behaviours of concern – observable descriptions of what the behaviour looks like, with relevant measures such as frequency, duration and intensity.
Interviews and record review – information from the person and relevant supporters, alongside reports, previous plans, progress notes and other available records.
Direct observation and behaviour data – observations across relevant contexts, including situations in which behaviour is more and less likely.
ABC behaviour data – recording antecedents, the observable behaviour and consequences to identify recurring patterns.
Setting events and contributing factors – broader factors such as sleep, pain, health, sensory load, communication, cumulative demands, change or other circumstances where supported by evidence.
Functional hypothesis – integrating the available evidence to describe when behaviour is most likely, what tends to precede and follow it, and what the behaviour may achieve, avoid, communicate or regulate for the person.
Rather than stating the function as fact, the assessment should use language that reflects the strength of the evidence. A hypothesis may be preliminary, emerging or more strongly supported depending on the consistency and convergence of available information.
Possible functions or outcomes may involve access to interaction, activities or items; escaping or delaying difficult situations; communicating needs; changing sensory input; or supporting regulation. More than one function or contributing factor may be relevant.
Avoid labels such as ‘attention-seeking’. Where interaction appears relevant, describe the pattern more neutrally and specifically, for example that behaviour is frequently followed by social interaction or may help the person access connection or support.
Information from the Assess Stage informs both the Manage and Prevent stages.
Step 2 – Manage: Recognise Escalation and Respond Safely
The Manage Stage focuses on what supporters can do when the person begins to experience increasing distress, dysregulation or escalation.
The aim is not to control the person. It is to help supporters recognise changes early and respond in ways that prioritise safety, dignity, regulation and the person’s immediate needs.
The Manage Stage may include:
Individual escalation stages – identifying the stages that meaningfully describe the person’s pattern, rather than assuming everyone follows the same sequence.
Observable indicators – describing what the person may look, sound or behave like at each stage.
Stage-specific response strategies – explaining what supporters should do, reduce, change or avoid at each stage.
Communication and co-regulation – adjusting language, interaction, demands and proximity according to the person’s needs.
Safety strategies – identifying proportionate responses where there is a risk of harm.
Recovery support – allowing time, space and appropriate support following escalation rather than immediately returning to demands or conducting unnecessary post-incident discussion.
Replace language about strategies that aim to control the person with guidance about responding early, reducing escalation and supporting regulation. Response strategies should be individualised and linked to the person’s known needs and assessment information.
Where regulated or other restrictive practices are relevant, they require appropriate safeguards, authorisation and reduction planning in accordance with applicable requirements. Positive Behaviour Support should continually seek less restrictive ways of meeting the person’s needs and maintaining safety.
Step 3 – Prevent: Reduce Triggers, Meet Needs and Build Skills
The Prevent Stage uses the understanding developed during assessment to reduce the likelihood of behaviour of concern by improving the fit between the person and their environment, activities, communication and support.
The goal is not simply to stop behaviour. Preventative support should address the person’s needs, reduce unnecessary barriers and demands, strengthen autonomy and communication, and increase meaningful participation.
Supportive Environments
Adapt environments where assessment indicates that factors such as sensory load, accessibility, physical layout, predictability, privacy or other environmental conditions affect the person’s wellbeing or behaviour.
Supportive Activities
Consider the timing, duration, demands, resources, choice, meaning and accessibility of activities. Activities should reflect the person’s abilities, preferences and goals rather than simply keeping the person occupied or compliant.
Supportive Interactions
Supporters may need to adapt how they communicate, provide information, offer choices, present requests, allow processing time, respond to refusal or withdrawal, and recognise the person’s communication.
Prioritise respectful, clear, collaborative and responsive interaction.
Communication and Skill Development
Where assessment identifies a meaningful skill-development need, the plan may support the person to develop communication, self-advocacy, daily living, social, emotional regulation, participation or other useful skills.
Avoid assuming the person must learn a new skill for every behaviour of concern. Sometimes the appropriate intervention is primarily to change the environment, reduce an unnecessary demand, improve communication access or meet an unmet need.
When skills are taught, they should be achievable, meaningful and appropriate to the person’s communication, cognitive, developmental and sensory profile. Environmental accommodation should not be withheld while waiting for the person to acquire a new skill.
Use reinforcement thoughtfully and individually rather than prescribing generic reinforcement systems. Strategies should be based on assessment evidence, the person’s preferences and ethical, person-centred practice.
Together, these Manage and Prevent strategies form the person’s individualised Behaviour Support Plan strategies.
Step 4 – Monitor, Evaluate and Review
Positive Behaviour Support is an ongoing process rather than a plan that is written once and left unchanged.
Monitoring should help determine whether the assessment remains accurate, whether strategies are being implemented as intended and, most importantly, whether outcomes are improving for the person.
Review may include:
- frequency, duration, intensity or rate of behaviours of concern where relevant
- ABC and incident data
- progress towards individual goals
- use of communication, self-advocacy or other developing skills
- participation in meaningful activities
- safety and risk outcomes
- quality-of-life indicators
- feedback from the individual and supporters
- implementation of preventative and response strategies
- use, reduction and elimination of restrictive practices where applicable
Success should not be measured solely by fewer behaviours of concern. A meaningful review also asks whether the person has greater autonomy, participation, communication, safety, wellbeing and quality of life.
If outcomes are not improving, revisit the assessment and functional hypothesis, examine implementation, consider changes in the person’s circumstances and adjust strategies according to the available evidence.
The Behaviour Help Cycle in Practice
The four parts of the cycle connect rather than operate as isolated tasks:
ASSESS → understand the person, behaviour, context and possible function.
MANAGE → recognise escalation and respond safely, respectfully and responsively.
PREVENT → change environments and interactions, meet needs, strengthen communication and build meaningful skills.
REVIEW → monitor outcomes, evaluate the evidence and refine the assessment and support.
New information gathered during monitoring feeds back into assessment, making the Behaviour Help Cycle genuinely continuous.
How the Behaviour Help App Supports the Assess – Manage – Prevent Cycle
The Behaviour Help App is structured around the same Assess, Manage and Prevent framework.
It supports practitioners to organise Functional Behaviour Assessment information, collect and review behaviour data, develop functional hypotheses, document escalation and response information, develop preventative and skill-building strategies, and monitor progress over time.
The App supports the practitioner’s workflow and clinical reasoning; it does not replace professional judgement. Conclusions and strategies should remain grounded in the available evidence and individual circumstances.
This creates a connected pathway:
ASSESS → MANAGE → PREVENT → MONITOR → REVIEW → REFINE
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Behaviour Help Cycle?
The Behaviour Help Cycle is a practical Positive Behaviour Support framework developed by Behaviour Help. It organises the process into Assess, Manage and Prevent stages with continuous monitoring and review.
What happens during the Assess Stage?
The Assess Stage uses Functional Behaviour Assessment to gather and analyse information about the person, behaviour and context. It aims to develop an evidence-informed functional hypothesis explaining why behaviour may be occurring.
What happens during the Manage Stage?
The Manage Stage helps supporters recognise changes in the person’s emotional or behavioural state and use individualised strategies that prioritise safety, dignity, co-regulation and de-escalation.
What happens during the Prevent Stage?
The Prevent Stage develops proactive supports based on assessment findings. These may include supportive environments, activities and interactions, communication supports and meaningful skill development.
Why is ongoing review important in Positive Behaviour Support?
Behaviour, environments and support needs can change. Ongoing review allows practitioners and supporters to determine whether strategies are helping, whether hypotheses remain supported and whether the person is experiencing meaningful improvements in quality of life, participation, autonomy and safety.
Final Thoughts
The Behaviour Help Cycle provides a simple structure for a complex process: understand before intervening, respond safely when difficulties arise, use assessment to prevent avoidable distress, build meaningful supports and skills, and continually review whether life is improving for the person.
Positive Behaviour Support is most effective when behaviour is understood in context and the focus remains on the person’s needs, rights, autonomy, participation and quality of life.