What Does a Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner Do?

A lot of families are told “you need a behaviour support practitioner” and nobody explains what that person will actually do. I’m Yos, an NDIS behaviour support practitioner working only with young people aged 12 to 20. Here’s the job, step by step, the way I’d explain it at your kitchen table.

What is a positive behaviour support practitioner?

A positive behaviour support (PBS) practitioner works out why a behaviour keeps happening, then builds a plan that helps the young person get what they need in a better way. The goal is a better life for the young person and the people around them. Fewer hard moments usually come with that.

On the NDIS, it’s a regulated role. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission assesses each practitioner against the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework. Only practitioners the Commission considers suitable can do functional behaviour assessments and write behaviour support plans, and they have to work through a provider registered for registration group 0110.

What does a PBS practitioner actually do?

1. Gets to know the young person first

Strengths before problems. What does a good day look like? How do they communicate when they’re upset? What are they into? With teenagers, rapport comes first. If a young person doesn’t trust you, they won’t show you what’s really going on.

2. Does a functional behaviour assessment

Every behaviour has a job. Usually it’s getting something, getting away from something, or feeling okay again. The functional behaviour assessment is how the practitioner works out that job. It pulls together conversations with the young person, family, school and support team, any reports, observation, and simple data like short notes on what happened before, during and after a hard moment.

A good practitioner also checks health early. Pain, poor sleep or a medical issue nobody’s picked up can drive behaviour, so that needs ruling in or out first.

3. Writes the behaviour support plan

If there’s an immediate need, an interim plan comes first, within one month. It covers safety, changes that take the pressure off, and calm ways for adults to respond. The comprehensive plan follows within six months. It’s built on the assessment and includes:

• the skills the young person will learn, written as teaching steps
• changes to routines and the environment that make the hard moments less likely
• what adults do when things start to build, and when they’ve peaked
• a data plan the family can actually keep up with

4. Teaches the adults to use the plan

A plan only works if the people around the young person can run it on a bad day. So a big part of the job is training and coaching: parents, carers, teachers and support workers. I write every plan for a tired parent in the hardest 10 minutes of the day.

5. Tracks progress and reviews the plan

The practitioner looks at the data with you, changes what isn’t working, and reviews the plan at least every 12 months, or sooner if things change.

6. Works to reduce restrictive practices

If a young person’s supports include restrictive practices, like locked doors or certain medications, the practitioner’s job is to describe them clearly, report them, and build a plan to fade them out over time. They’re always a last resort.

Who else is involved?

Diagnosis is done by doctors and psychologists. Therapy for mental health sits with psychologists, counsellors and services like headspace. Speech, occupational and other therapists keep their own roles. A PBS practitioner works alongside all of them, with your consent, so the young person gets the same approach everywhere.

How do you check a practitioner?

• Ask for the practitioner’s name and search it on the NDIS Commission’s list of behaviour support practitioners.
• Check the provider on the NDIS Commission’s provider register and look for “Specialist Positive Behaviour Support”.
• Ask who will actually come to your home and do the assessment.
• Ask how your young person will be involved in their own plan.

Frequently asked questions

What does a positive behaviour support practitioner do? They work out what a behaviour is doing for the person, write a plan that teaches better ways to meet the same need, train the people around them to use it, and review it over time.

Does a PBS practitioner diagnose autism or ADHD? No. Diagnosis comes from doctors and psychologists. A PBS practitioner uses those reports to understand the young person.

How long does behaviour support take? An interim plan, if needed, within one month. A comprehensive plan within six months. Coaching and review continue after that, with the plan reviewed at least every 12 months.

Does positive behaviour support work for teenagers? Yes. PBS works at any age, and with teenagers it needs to look different. Rapport takes longer, the young person should have a real say in the plan, and strategies need to fit school, friends and growing independence. At Supporting Communities Australia we work only with young people aged 12 to 20.

Can a young person be involved in their own behaviour support plan? Yes, and they should be. Read how I’m building that into my own practice in PBS Practice Notes #03.

General information, checked against NDIS Commission guidance on 3 November 2026. Written by Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas, NDIS behaviour support practitioner and founder of Supporting Communities Australia.