On this page:
What is supported decision making?
What is positive behaviour support?
Why should people be involved in decisions about their behaviour support?
What are the decisions in Positive Behaviour Support?
How do I support someone to make decisions about their behaviour support?
What you can do to support decisions for people with complex communication
What is supported decision making?
Supported decision making means to give someone the help they need to make more of their own decisions.
Supported making is based on the following ideas:
- Everyone has the right to make their own decisions.
- Everyone has the right to get support to make decisions.
- With adjustments and support people with disability can learn skills to make decisions.
- Decisions should be based on the persons will and preference (their own beliefs, values and everyday likes and dislikes).
- Everyone has the right to take risks.
When you support someone to make a decision you:
- Help them get the information they need to make the decision.
- Make sure they have information in the way they can understand it.
- Help them to think about the options, including the positive and negative outcomes of each option.
- Support them to make a decision based on their own will and preference (their own beliefs, values and everyday likes and dislikes).
- Help them to tell people about their decision.
- Help them act on their decision.
Remember
Risk taking is part of decision making.
Help the person to work through the possible risk by supporting them to think about why they want to make the decision, what the risks are and how to make things safer.
Avoid influencing someone’s decision by…
- Presenting the positive and negative outcomes of each option.
- Do not be more negative about the options you do not like.
- Giving the person the facts without giving them advice about what they should do.
- Sticking to the facts rather than sharing your feelings and opinions.
Reflect on how you acted when you support someone to make a decision by asking yourself…
- Did my ideas or opinions effect the decision?
- Did I focus on what the person wanted (their will and preference) instead of what I thought is best for them?
- Did I provide all relevant options or just those that I thought was best for the person?
- Is there anything I can do differently next time?
What is positive behaviour support?
- Positive Behaviour Support aims to improve the quality of life of the person and of the people who support them. It aims to do this by improving the environment that the person is in and developing the skills of the person and the people around them.
- Positive Behaviour Support involves the person and people who know them well. The person is at the centre and should be involved in the decisions about their Behaviour Support.
- Positive Behaviour Support aims to help everyone understand the person better so they know how to support them better.
- Positive Behaviour Support aims to reduce the use of restrictive practices if they are in place. Restrictive practices are only used as a last resort and are removed when other supports are put in place to help the person with their behaviour.
Why should people be involved in decisions about their behaviour support?
Involving people with disability in the decisions about their Behaviour Support plan will:
- Help them to feel heard and understand that they play an important part in the process.
- Enables them to have control over their own lives.
- Builds their knowledge, skills and self-confidence.
What are the decisions in Positive Behaviour Support?
- Who should be in my behaviour support team?
It is important that the person is involved in the decision about who should be involved in their behaviour support plan. To understand the person better, the practitioner may ask to talk to the person’s family and friends as well as professionals like teachers, support workers, speech therapists, doctors etc.
- What information should people have about me?
It is important that the person knows who the practitioner will talk to, what information they will be asking for, and why.
The person will be asked if there is any information they do not want to share with the practitioner or anyone else on their behaviour support team.
- What will help me live a good life?
To help the person live a good life the practitioner will want to understand what the person likes to do and what is important to them, what they find difficult, what they would like to do now and in the future.
- Do I want to change my plan?
If parts of the plan are not working, the person has the right to have their plan changed. It’s important that the person is supported to decide what they want to change and what they want to keep the same.
How do I support someone to make decisions about their behaviour support?
The Behaviour Support practitioner will explain these decisions to the person and work with the person to find out what they want to choose.
Your role as the supporter is to work with the behaviour support practitioner to:
- make sure the person has the information they need to make a decision.
- make sure they have the information in a way they can understand it.
- help the person to communicate what they want to the practitioner.
- help them to make the decision happen.
Supporting decisions for people with complex communication
- Spend a lot of time with the person and work closely with the people who know them well.
- Learn how they communicate. For example, sometimes looking at the person will help understand what they prefer. What is their facial expressions and behaviour telling you?
- Learn what the person likes by listening to them. Listen to the sounds of they make. Listen to what they communicate.
- Imagine what the person would do and say if they had total control over their lives. What would they choose?