What is behaviour support and restrictive practices?
Positive behaviour support is looking at the reasons behind a person with disability's behaviour and using strategies that consider those reasons and meet the person's needs. Strategies can include:
- teaching the person new skills
- making changes to their environment
- guiding the person's support team and their practices.
Positive behaviour support is an evidence-and values-based approach that respects the dignity of the person with disability. It aims to improve the person's quality of life and access to their human rights.
Positive behaviour support strategies are documented in a behaviour support plan. Behaviour support plans sometimes also include restrictive practices.
Restrictive practices
Some behaviour support plans include restrictive practices. A restrictive practice is any action that limits a person’s human rights or freedom of movement. Restrictive practices don't meet the person's needs, don't look at the reasons for the behaviour and don't create positive long-term change.
For this reason, restrictive practices are a short-term measure to keep the person with disability or others safe while positive behaviour support strategies are put in place.
Who does positive behaviour support?
Positive behaviour support involves 3 different professions:
- Specialist behaviour support providers are a type of registered NDIS provider that ??.
They must engage an NDIS behaviour support practitioner to develop behaviour support plans.
See Apply to become a specialist behaviour support provider. - NDIS behaviour support practitioners develop behaviour support plans that are specific to the person with disability, their situation and the people that support them. They are also referred to as specialist behaviour support practitioners or behaviour support practitioners.
See to Apply to become an NDIS behaviour support practitioner. - Implementing providers are registered NDIS providers who provide day-to-day supports to people with disability, and those supports include restrictive practices.
See Apply to become a registered provider who can use restrictive practices.
Behaviour support practitioners: develop or update behaviour support plans
- How to develop behaviour support plans
- Contents of a behaviour support plan
- Definitions: types of restrictive practices and practice guidance
- Is it a high-risk practice?
High risk practices should never be included in a behaviour support plan - Clinical guidance for behaviour support practitioners
- Timeframes for developing behaviour support plans
- Delays in developing a behaviour support plan
- Upload a behaviour support plan
- Review a behaviour support plan
- Close a behaviour support plan
- An unregistered provider is using restrictive practices and requested a behaviour support plan. What do I do?
- Correcting medication dosage that has changed or was entered incorrectly (see page 38)
Implementing providers: behaviour support plans and using restrictive practices
- Am I using a restrictive practice?
- Is this medication a restrictive practice?
- Is it a high-risk practice?
High-risk practices should never be used - Funding for behaviour support
Set up a new behaviour support plan
Implementing providers: reporting restrictive practices
Reporting the use of unauthorised restricted practices: reportable incidents
- Reporting unauthorised restrictive practices
- Definitions: What is a restrictive practice, types of restrictive practices, and practice guidance
- Is it a high-risk practice?
High risk practices need to be reported to the NDIS Commission as abuse, not an unauthorised restrictive practice - Closing reportable incidents once a behaviour support plan has been developed and authorised
Reporting the use of authorised (regulated) restricted practices: monthly reporting
Practice guidance
- Behaviour Support and Restrictive Practices Fact Sheet
- Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide
- Regulated Restrictive Practices with Children and Young People with Disability: Practice Guide
- Transporting NDIS participants and restrictive practices
- Surveillance technology and restrictive practices
- Storing medication used for restrictive practices
- Other practice guidance
Contacts
If an NDIS Participant's life is at risk, or there's an immediate risk of harm or injury, please ring 000.
If a person with disability could be injured or harmed due to restrictive practices but it's not an emergency, inform the NDIS Commission at Report an issue about a provider or worker.
When a registered provider is using restrictive practices and a participant is at risk of harm or injury, the registered provider needs to inform the NDIS Commission as a Reportable incident.
Please report any of the following to us:
- you're aware an unregistered NDIS provider is implementing restrictive practices
- you're an NDIS provider and:
- you have a participant with a behaviour support plan that contains restrictive practices, and
- the behaviour support practitioner hasn't lodged that plan with the NDIS Commission, and
- you’ve tried to contact practitioner and it still isn't uploaded
- you're aware there's a registered provider who:
- is waiting for a behaviour support plan to be developed, and
- is using restrictive practices in the interim, and
- isn't reporting the use of restrictive practices to the NDIS Commission as a reportable incident.
This needs to be reported because the interim restrictive practices are classified as 'unauthorised restrictive practices', and all unauthorised restrictive practices need to be reported as a reportable incident.
Please report these to behavioursupport@ndiscommission.gov.au.
Many general questions are be answered on this page. Questions about behaviour support practices that aren’t answered here can be directed to behavioursupport@ndiscommission.gov.au.