Behaviour Bits

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.

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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.

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t's all grounded in evidence-based, person-centred practice, designed to support you at your own pace, in real-world ways.

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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

Jenn Colechin is joined by Jill Hellemans (Behaviour Analyst, Special Educator, and Child and Family counsellor; Clinical Director of All Aboard Inclusion) to unpack early intervention- especially what good early intervention can look like when it’s embedded in inclusive, real-world settings like homes, childcare, and preschool.
Together, they explore why early intervention is fundamentally about building meaningful skills (not “fixing” children), how capacity-building with families and educators creates real intensity over time, and what current shifts in Australia’s NDIS landscape (including Thriving Kids) could mean for practice, particularly around natural environments, collaboration, and tiered support.

Takeaways:

Early intervention is most powerful when it builds foundational learning skills early (communication, play, transitions, tolerance, daily living skills, safety), reducing the likelihood that distress behaviours become the main way needs are communicated and met.
Progress comes from everyday practice across routines, relationships, and environments.
High-quality early intervention prioritises capacity-building: upskilling the people who are with the child most (family, educators, support staff) so strategies are used consistently and confidently.
Teaching needs to happen where life happens, like at home, community, and early childhood settings because that’s where skills are most likely to generalise and stick.
Multidisciplinary work is essential, but collaboration needs to be realistically funded and protected.
In early childhood settings, therapists who “blend in” (support routines, join play, build rapport, avoid the clipboard-in-the-corner vibe) are more likely to create sustainable change.

Early intervention is a rights-based opportunity: teaching choice-making, requesting, and rejection (including “no”) supports agency and reduces reliance on unsafe or misunderstood communication.

· Thriving Kids could create better pathways by focusing on need (not just diagnosis), strengthening natural-environment supports, and investing earlier, before children reach school already behind.
· Jill’s call to the field: be more visible, collaborative, and open. Show what contemporary ABA looks like in practice, learn from lived experience and past harms, and keep improving.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

· PRECI Report (National Best Practice Framework in Early Childhood Intervention) – released May 2025
· Thriving Kids Advisory Group Final Report – released December 2025
· Key worker model (and how behaviour analysts can work effectively within it)Want extra support to turn these ideas into practical, real-world strategies?

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/

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