Behaviour Bits

This episode explores positive behaviour support (PBS) principles in dementia contexts with Dr Alinka Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Disability and Community Inclusion at Flinders University. Drawing on her research across disability, acquired brain injury and dementia, Alinka discusses why behaviour should be understood as communication rather than a symptom of diagnosis, and how PBS frameworks apply flexibly to support people living with dementia and their families. The conversation unpacks the critical distinction between managing behaviours and understanding the complex interactions, neurological changes, personal history and environmental factors that influence how people communicate their needs. Alinka shares insights from education programmes delivered to families and residential aged care staff, highlighting what foundations of good support actually look like in practice.

Understanding behaviour as communication opens up fundamentally different possibilities for supporting people with dementia and their families. Whether you're a behaviour support practitioner, aged care worker or allied health professional, this episode offers practical perspective on how PBS principles translate into real-world practice, the importance of collaborative, family-centred approaches, and how to build workforce capability when time and resources feel stretched. Alinka's work demonstrates that person-centred, evidence-informed practice isn't reserved for ideal circumstances but can be flexibly applied in every situation.

Resources:Fisher et al. (2022). Positive behaviour support for people with dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.5844
Fisher et al. (2023). The acceptability and usefulness of positive behaviour support education sessions for frontotemporal dementia families. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1177/08919887221090214
Fisher et al. (2024). "It's opened my eyes to a whole new world": PBS training for staff and families in aged care. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias. https://doi.org/10.1177/15333175241241168
Fisher et al. (2024). PBS-P Framework for flexible, rights-based practice. Disability and Rehabilitation.https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2024.2402079

Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?

The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. I
t's all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback?
Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com

This episode explores cultural reflexivity in behaviour support practice with Anika Tabassum, a specialist behaviour support practitioner with over a decade of experience supporting culturally and linguistically diverse children and families.
Anika examines what cultural reflexivity is- including the critical distinction between cultural awareness and cultural reflexivity, and explains why many well-intentioned practitioners and teams recognise culture as an important factor in behaviour support, but may find challenges in integrating true culturally reflexive practice.

The conversation covers practical strategies for approaching cultural reflexivity by replacing assumptions with curiosity, and provides concrete examples of how practitioners can reframe goals and strategies to align with collectivist family values without compromising outcomes or NDIS accountability.

This episode offers essential insight into how practitioner’s and service system’s own cultural lenses shape the way behaviour is interpreted, priorities are set, and therapeutic relationships are established.
Cultural reflexivity isn’t an additional training box to tick- it’s an active, ongoing commitment to understanding the cultural context of the people and families receiving support, and recognises that the pathway to meaningful, positive outcomes requires humility and collaboration.

Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?

The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. I
t's all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback?
Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com

Co-design in behaviour support means working alongside people to develop plans and supports rather than creating them solely from the professional’s perspective and presenting them as finished products.
Tarnya Bruinier discusses how involving people in understanding their own triggers, strengths, and needs leads to greater buy-in, ownership, and sustainable outcomes.
Tarnya is a Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner, AuDHD woman, mother of neurodivergent children and the Director of Wildfire Wellbeing. She shares practical examples, from a woman who created her own de-escalation plan to a young person who identified a safe space to regulate at school, demonstrating how curiosity and person-centred collaboration fundamentally reshape behaviour support practice. The conversation also explores how traditional assessments can incorporate co-design, how tools like Vista trigger cards build self-awareness, and the importance of shifting mindsets from managing behaviour to addressing unmet needs.
Co-design is particularly valuable when supporting people with behaviours of concern. It honours autonomy, builds agency, and recognises that people are the experts in their own lives. By slowing down, asking questions, and genuinely listening, practitioners create plans that reflect what actually matters to the person, often leading to better outcomes.

Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?

The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. I
t's all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback?
Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com

In this episode, Micaela Rafferty — Board-Certified Behaviour Analyst, special educator, and nationally recognised nutritionist — joins the podcast to explore the science of burnout and how behaviour analysts and allied health professionals can apply their own expertise to protect their health and wellbeing. Micaela unpacks the official definition of burnout as a predictable response to chronic, unresolved workplace stress and explains why those working in the NDIS space face a particularly layered set of stressors — from shifting government policy and funding constraints through to compassion fatigue and the emotional demands of caring work. The conversation covers practical, evidence-based self-care strategies grounded in behavioural science: designing supportive environments, reducing response effort, building in rest and recovery across physical, mental, emotional, and sensory dimensions, and creating systems of accountability and reinforcement to sustain behaviour change over time.

This episode reframes self-care not as an indulgence but as an ethical and professional responsibility. The very skills practitioners apply daily with clients and participants — functional assessment, environment design, shaping small consistent behaviours, and frequent reinforcement — are exactly the tools needed to protect clinical capacity and prevent burnout. Whether you’re already feeling the weight of an unsustainable workload, or you want to get ahead of the warning signs, Micaela’s insights offer a genuinely practical starting point. Small, meaningful steps, taken consistently and without self-judgement, are what create lasting change — and that applies as much to practitioners as it does to the people they support.

Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?

The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. It’s all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com

Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?

The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. I
t's all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback?
Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com

Jenn Colechin is joined by Dr Fiona J. Davis to unpack what actually makes Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) implementation work in real-world disability contexts. Fiona is a specialist developmental educator and specialist behaviour support practitioner with more than 35 years’ experience across Australia, and she brings a strongly rights-based, practical lens to the “doing” part of PBS.
Together, they explore why implementation often becomes an afterthought (especially for novice practitioners under compliance pressure), and what it looks like to start implementation from “day dot” by building trust, working with context, and focusing on micro-changes that families and support teams can realistically sustain.

Takeaways:
Implementation isn’t the optional second half of PBS. It’s the core work that turns assessment and plans into meaningful quality-of-life change.
Many PBS practitioners have been trained for compliance (reports, timelines, restrictive practice identification), but not supported to build strong implementation skills.
Start implementation from the first contact: the way you listen, communicate, and build trust sets up everything that follows.
“Good implementation” is always contextual. Your approach shifts depending on the person, setting, safety risks, and stakeholder capacity.
Micro-changes matter: small, doable shifts can create momentum, reduce overwhelm, and help stakeholders see that change is possible.
Data collection needs to fit the family’s real life. Creative, low-burden options (like simple dots on a calendar) can still give useful insight.
Strong therapeutic relationships make it easier to collaborate, problem-solve, and respectfully challenge when things don’t go to plan.
Understanding disability (including history, rights, and lived impact) is essential. Behaviour support doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
Clear, concrete communication supports predictability (for example, reducing language during escalation and using specific times rather than vague “later”).
Implementation is iterative: expect adjustments as you learn more, circumstances change, and you refine strategies, often by simplifying rather than adding more.
Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS goals) offers a practical way to define success, capture progress on a spectrum, and make outcomes visible and measurable.
Organisation supports implementation: simple structure, checklists, and consistent communication reduce “floating in the wind” for both practitioners and teams.
Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?
The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. It’s all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.
Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback?
Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com

Looking for practical, flexible learning that goes beyond the podcast?

The All Access Pass gives you unlimited entry to all of our self-paced online courses, early access to new content, exclusive member discounts, and our ever-growing library of downloadable resources, templates, and clinical tools. I
t's all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

Visit https://specialistbehaviour.com/all-access-pass/

Questions, comments, feedback?
Email us at info@specialistbehaviour.com