Person-Centered Planning and Cultural Inertia in Applied Behavior Analysis

Self-injurious behaviour, non-interventionism and practitioners' needs: Implications for training and managerial support

The aim of the present article is to critically analyse the literature concerning the factors that lead to non-interventionism towards self-injurious behaviour (SIB) in the field of intellectual disability and to make recommendations for the development of practice. It emerges that the limited behaviour analytic skills of practitioners impede the implementation of behavioural interventions and allow SIB to persist. The implications for the development of in-service training and managerial support that would disseminate the implementation of behavioural interventions are briefly discussed.

On the relation between applied behavior analysis and positive behavioral support

Anderson and Freeman (2000) recently defined positive behavioral support (PBS) as a systematic approach to the delivery of clinical and educational services that is rooted in behavior analysis. However, the recent literature contains varied definitions of PBS as well as discrepant notions regarding the relation between applied behavior analysis and PBS. After summarizing common definitional characteristics of PBS from the literature, we conclude that PBS is comprised almost exclusively of techniques and values originating in applied behavior analysis. We then discuss the relations between applied behavior analysis and PBS that have been proposed in the literature. Finally, we discuss possible implications of considering PBS a field separate from applied behavior analysis.