Jodee talks about differences in the way autistic people experience and express pain using both current research evidence and lived experience as an autistic person.

They also share helpful communication tools and insights on autistic ways of coping with pain.

We made mistakes focusing purely on the assessment of the child or young person. We made assumptions that lack of parental engagement meant that they would not or could not engage with our service. After looking at the problem at a more systematic level, we were able to identify areas of concern and develop tools to assess the need of the whole family. We have now learned that parents can engage, but we need to understand and explore the specific barriers parents face and include this into our PBS provision.

This case study explores the journey of an individual who transitioned from living in a secure mental health hospital for 23 years to her own home in the community, facilitated by the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) framework. The study highlights key aspects of the transition process, including the functional assessment of behaviour, comprehensive staff training, and the development of a person-centred approach to meet her unique needs.

The discussion provides insights into the strategies used to ensure a smooth transition, such as building a supportive and well-trained staff team and designing interventions tailored to promote independence and community integration. Additionally, the case study reflects on an intensive intervention that presented challenges, identifying areas where improvements could have been made to enhance the outcomes of this particular intervention and opportunities to reflect on this for future transitions. This case demonstrates the potential of PBS to support individuals with complex behavioural needs in achieving meaningful and sustainable life changes while emphasising the importance of continuous learning and adaptability in such initiatives.

Children with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) have often had extended exposure to many incidents of inappropriate adult modelling of relationships. This can cause a child to distrust adults, develop inappropriate methods for conflict resolution, and display low levels of distress tolerance skills. These skill deficits, alongside any behavioural excesses, often become a barrier to forming therapeutic relationships with peers, trusted adults, and professionals such as therapists, teachers, and social workers etc.

This presentation will discuss areas of practice where blunders occurred when attempting to form relationships with children who have experienced trauma, their care givers, and the multi-disciplinary team around them. The presenters will draw from experiences and attendees will learn how we overcame many mistakes in the therapy setting and multi-disciplinary meeting rooms to act in the best interest of each individual child.

Hannah will describe the application of the Practical Functional Assessment and Skills-Based Treatment approach with three young people within the UK. She'll discuss the challenges the team faced in implementing this procedure within imperfect contexts both at home and school, where funding, time, and capacity were often limited. We’ll discuss the procedural changes made to help with implementation and review the outcomes for each of the three young people. Lastly, we’ll explore the key factors that contributed to success, even in challenging settings.

Perceived Organisational Support is defined as the extent to which staff feel supported by their organisation and values their contributions. Despite a plethora of research in other sectors, this variable has received minimal attention within the field of intellectual and developmental disability services. This presentation looks at the results of an unpublished research project regarding the relationships between Perceived Organisational Support and staff mindfulness with emotional exhaustion (the precursor to burnout) and considers the impact of failing to value and support staff on the quality of support that is delivered. The findings are then related to the existing literature to propose factors that are likely to increase Perceived Organisational Support (and help organisations avoid the mistake of failing to value their staff!). 

Jo Coulson (Director of Supporting Positively) will be using case studies to discuss how we apply the Mental Capacity Act and Consent/Assent to our PBS Practices - are you really meeting the requirements in your practice and how to do better.

Maggie will introduce the work of the UK-SBA.

She will consider how the ethics code and practice values of the UK-SBA align with the practice of Positive Behaviour Support and discuss opportunities for certification of PBS practitioners.

As support professionals, serving those who may lack capacity to make decisions about some, or many aspects of their lives, it can be easy to fall into the trap of setting higher expectations for those we support than for society at large. Looking at how we have balanced duty of care historically, we have perhaps expected more of those we support than we should. Is a duvet day such a bad thing? If they don't complete their routine today, is it so likely they won't do it tomorrow? Or ever again! Why is having cake for breakfast so hard for us to digest? 

This presentation will help us to reflect, with humility, the rationale for where we have been, and find a better way of thinking about how we can do better, now and into the future.

After a child receives a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, parents often seek recommendations for the appropriate next steps.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy is one of the most commonly recommended behavioral interventions for parents, yet many are unfamiliar with this approach before it's suggested to them. This presentation offers seasoned insights into ABA's approach and evolution while also illustrating how historical lessons continue toinform effective, ethical interventions that enhance lives across diverse populations.

Functional Behaviour Assessments are like assembling a puzzle, and support staff and family members often hold most of the pieces needed to complete it. They bring all the important details – what behaviours they see, what they look like, and which triggers they may see. But what about the person themselves? Placing the person at the centre of this process, provides us with the most valuable insights. It’s all about working together to uncover the “why” behind behaviours of concern and come up with solutions that actually make sense for everyone involved. Plus, it makes the whole process way more engaging and meaningful! In this presentation, Sara & Steven discuss how they have worked together to put Steven at the centre of his own functional behaviour assessment and the development of his PBS plan.

Richard will offer a personal reflection on four 'choices' that PBS proponents have made implicitly or explicitly and often in response to external pressures and opportunities. I will explore briefly why these choices might have been made and some of the negative consequences of making these choices. Conference delegates will want to make up their own minds about whether the choices made represent 'mistakes' of the PBS community.

This is a panel session including our very own Paddy Behan (Co-Director of PBS UK), Jo Coulson (Director of Supporting Positively), Charlotte Harrison (PBS Lead for Swanton Care), Caroline Shaw (Head of Complex Needs, The Richmond Fellowship Scotland) and David Corcoran (Founder and Co-Director of iSupport Behaviour). This fantastic group have massive experience in setting up PBS Teams and delivering PBS across entire systems and organisations.  This will be a more interactive session than our typical presentations with the group discussing what they have learned about system wide implementation of PBS and what mistakes you might want to avoid if this is your ambition.