Brenda Fossett, PhD, BCBA-D, Capilano University

Filmed November 2020 – edited into 14 parts; total 213 minutes

Parents often assume that the difficulties they face in helping their children develop healthy daily routines are a part of their child’s autism and must be endured. This presentation provides parents and caregivers an overview of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) with the goal of supporting them to be proactive in helping neurodiverse children to be safely included in home, school and community activities. Core features of PBS include the application of behavioral science (ABA), the use of practical strategies to promote desired behavior, and a focus on improving the quality of life for the individual and their family.

A goal of this presentation is to increase parental awareness of good PBS service, so they can find a behavior consultant to support them in using positive strategies to address essential functional skills, including toileting, sleep and mealtimes. Importantly, parents will learn about positive strategies they can begin using immediately with young children to lessen the child’s reliance on destructive or self-injurious behaviors to communicate their distress. Parents of older children will better understand the challenges their children are experiencing and how to identify skilled support to provide the young person with positive ways of having their needs met while being fully included in their community.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Define Positive Behavior Support
Identify common misconceptions regarding PBS
Identify common purposes served by problem behavior
Identify components of a quality PBS-based intervention
Describe common preventative strategies

Presentation Handout (40 Pages)

Presenter Bio

Brenda Fossett is an inspired teacher who is widely admired for her ability to convey complex concepts to those who work with children and adults with diverse needs, whether they are educational professionals or parents. Dr. Fossett has been on faculty in the Applied Behavior Analysis – Autism Department at Capilano University since 2013. She is a certified teacher of the deaf and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Fossett has extensive clinical experience providing behavioral and educational consultative services to children with ASD, deafness, and other developmental conditions in home, school, and community settings. Her scholarly and clinical interests include: applied behavior analysis, the implementation of positive behavior support in home and school settings, and educational interventions for deaf children with developmental disabilities.