Specialist Behaviour Support and Therapeutic Support Services
Prag Consulting is a leading provider of NDIS Specialist Behaviour Support in Melbourne, highly sought after and reputed for the quality of our services and our team of qualified and experienced Registered Behaviour Support Practitioners. We work with you to provide individualised, proactive and evidence-based support based on the principles of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS).
Our Approach
Prag Consulting Specialist Behaviour Support and Therapeutic Supports are based on the principles and the framework of Positive Behaviour Support – the evidence-based best-practice approach to supporting individuals and systems to reduce behaviours of concern.
Understanding that Behaviours of Concern have meaning and serve various functions, our aim is to work with participants, families and support networks to understand the functions and develop better adaptive means of meeting unmet needs. In doing so, we aim to improve quality of life, capacity for independence and autonomy, work towards goals and create meaningful and lasting change and improve quality of life.
We are strong advocates and practitioners of authentic, person-centred PBS that improves quality of life.
We aim to work with participants and supporters to understand and address the reasons for behaviours of concern, and promote their full participation in life. At Prag Consulting, we understand that a qualified Behaviour Support Practitioner is not enough – that’s why we work hard to match the right practitioner to each referral. We believe our relationships and engagement with the people we support (including families and formal supports) to be critical in the outcomes we achieve. Our approach is based on our years of experience supporting those with complex needs and informed by the research evidence as well as our own practice-based evidence.
From assessment through to strategy development and implementation, we understand that for real and lasting change to be achieved, participants, families and the broader support systems need consistent but dynamic support that focuses on developing capacity and autonomy, as well as on-the-ground support in the ‘here and now’. We provide support where it should be provided – in homes, workplaces or schools and in community settings where life takes place. Where necessary, we may see participants in our own rooms or provide consultation and support via telehealth. We believe that supporting people to improve their quality of life, and to engage meaningfully in life is the most effective way to address behaviours of concern. What sets us apart is that we work collaboratively with you and are with you every step of the way.
Our qualified Positive Behaviour Support team, consisting of psychologists, social workers and disability professionals provide holistic, person-centred PBS interventions to children and adults of all ages, with a focus on addressing the things that matter most to participants, families and support settings. Our aim is to improve the quality of life, reduce behaviours of concern and help participants and families reach their goals.
Our Specialist Behaviour Support Services:
Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA)
An FBA aims to understand the functions of maladaptive behaviour (the purpose such behaviours serve the person). Understanding the functions of behaviour (as well as antecedents and underlying drivers/motivators) is critical to developing effective behaviour support strategies that reduce maladaptive behaviours by replacing them with functionally equivalent better adaptive and prosocial behaviour. We adopt an evidence-based approach, with a trauma-informed and humanistic lens to our FBAs, regardless of the behaviour being used – whether they are sensory driven or criminogenic in nature.
Behaviour Support Plans (BSP), Training and Review
Our Behaviour Support Plans (BSP) are based on the principles of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), where the person is central to the BSP, and all proactive support strategies are based on their strengths, interests and capacity to learn and develop skills with the aim of addressing unmet needs and improving quality of life.
Meaningful consultation with the person with a disability and their family (and/or decision makers), formal supports and support network also governs the approach to the development of our BSPs. Implementers of our BSPs – staff teams, families and others, are provided with training and support to implement and strategies. As with all registered specialist behaviour support providers, we are governed by the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules, 2018 (Cth) when developing and implementing our BSPs.
Adaptive Behaviour Assessment
Adaptive behaviour assessments are used to understand a person’s level of adaptive functioning and functional independence across a range of areas including communication/social skills, self-care, mobility, community living and learning to then understand their support needs (having regard also to the impact of maladaptive behaviour). These assessments provide valuable insights into the person’s unique support needs and are extremely useful for reviewing and recommending disability related support needs critical to ensuring adequate funding from the NDIA.
Support Needs Assessment
The most useful and opportune time to provide a behaviour support needs assessment might be when a NDIS participant might not have adequate funding for specialist behaviour support in their NDIS plan, and is intending to have a review of the NDIS plan. Our behaviour support needs assessments have assisted many participants and families to secure adequate specialist behaviour support funds and other supports such as robust build settings, adequate support staff levels, home modifications etc.
TelePBS
Living outside of a major city or in rural and remote Australia should not be a barrier to accessing high quality and timely behaviour support services. At Prag Consulting, our expert Practitioners are experienced in the delivery of TelePBS (that is, using on-line platforms such as Teams and Zoom for delivery of PBS) and can work with you and your team in innovative ways to ensure great outcomes no matter where you live.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between PBS and ABA?
While Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the scientific foundation of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), there are some significant differences in the approaches to practice and ethics. For instance, while ABA is mainly focused on modifying specific, observable behaviours, PBS is a person-centred approach that is focussed on improving quality of life through addressing gaps and unmet needs, making adaptations to the environment, and teaching skills for better adaptive behaviour. ABA is often criticised for its focus on consequences and compliance, and PBS evolved as an ethical alternative to ABA in the 1980s, prioritising the rights, dignity, and personal choice of the individual.
PBS aims to understand the functions of behaviour and propose behavioural interventions once the functions of behaviour are understood, while ABA (in its purest form) aims to increase desirable behaviour and decrease problem behaviour, often through the use of highly structured, intensive and experimental or data driven techniques. Both PBS and ABA (in its modern iterations and philosophy) commit to using only reinforcement (rewards) and not punishment-based interventions; however, ABA may use negative reinforcement (taking something away) or withholding a known reinforce (also known as ‘extinction techniques’) to teach ‘consequences’ of problem behaviour.
ABA is often used in early intervention for children with autism where skills teaching is a focus, while PBS is far more effective and ethical for supporting children and adults with intellectual/cognitive impairments with complex behaviours, in community and disability settings in general (e.g., in family homes, schools, residential and day program settings).
Where do you provide support?
We provide support wherever it suits people best – in their homes, schools, workplaces and local communities. Where it’s suitable or preferred, we can also arrange appointments in our office.
Do you work with families and other allied health professionals?
Yes, we work collaboratively with families, all relevant allied health professionals and clinicians, usually as part of a care team. A care team usually also includes the plan nominee, or key decision maker/guardian, a support coordinator and other support providers such as residential and day programs.
Families and other supporters are typically actively involved in behaviour support because they know the person best and provide most of the day‑to‑day support. They can assist by providing history, detailed information about behaviours and be part of goal setting, implementing strategies and identifying what works.
