Positive Approaches Journal, Volume 10, Issue 4

Volume 10 ► Issue 4 ► February 2022

Data Discoveries

The goal of Data Discoveries is to present useful data using new methods and platforms that can be customized.

Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) include a series of strategies for supporting individuals to improve quality of life and decrease challenging behaviors through evidence-based methods. PBS can be used in a variety of contexts like schools, homes, and communities.¹ While often described and implemented in disability populations like those with developmental disabilities or autism spectrum disorder (ASD)²,² PBS has been used in a wide array of populations including those with childhood obesity³ and an acquired brain injury.^4,5 One of the core principles of PBS is the Assessment of Contexts and Functions.⁶ Assessment is critical in PBS to track patterns in when, how, and within what context(s) a behavior occurs to implement appropriate supports to improve individual quality of life. Assessments can take many forms in PBS including “…record reviews, interviews, and observations”.⁶ A Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is one example of a process that can gather and measure data surrounding a behavior that is occurring and identify variables that may be impacting the cause and effect of the behavior.⁷ The goal of an FBA as part of PBS is to assess and replace challenging behaviors. Pennsylvania, through efforts of the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), has been propelling strategies to support providers, across the service system and lifespan, in execution of FBAs as well as the development of a treatment or behavior support plan that can be used across settings through an FBA training. The ODP FBA training has been delivered in-person and via a DVD and has recently been upgraded to be an interactive, self-paced module online format that is widely accessible through the MyODP web platform.

The data dashboard below shows information about PBS and FBAs from several data sources. The first tab, ‘Positive Behavioral Supports in Publications’ shows the use of PBS in various populations that have been published in academic, peer-reviewed journals through a search of scholarly journal databases for the phrase “positive behavior supports”. Click on a circle and you will be directed to the full text of the PBS articles. The size of the circle represents the number of other research articles citing that article, which is sometimes referred to as the impact of the article (e.g, the bigger the circle, the more impact or the more others have cited the article). To learn more about implementation of FBA training and practice in in Pennsylvania, click on: ‘FBA Training in Pennsylvania Over Time’ to view a timeline of training in FBA delivered in Pennsylvania by ODP FBA training. You can also learn about ‘Provider Perceptions of FBAs’ to view responses to a 2017 survey conducted by ODP and the Autism Services, Education, Resources, & Training Collaborative (ASERT) to gather opinions and perspectives about the ODP FBA training content and process. Use the filters to view responses by provider type, role function, and ages of individuals supported.

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