Creating safer, calmer pick-ups and supporting emotional regulation and toileting confidence
- Activ8 Mind
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT GUIDE
Mia* is an imaginative, creative, and caring 11-year-old with a great sense of humor. She attends a mainstream primary school four days a week and a specialist school one day a week. She was diagnosed early on with autism, ADHD, a mild intellectual disability, anxiety, and sensory processing differences.
Over time, Mia began experiencing behaviours of concern: physical aggression at school pick-up and at handovers, resistance to starting or persevering with non-preferred tasks, and the avoidance of bowel movements on the toilet.
These behaviours were impacting her daily life, and the lives of those close to her.
Mia and her mother sought the support of Coby, our Melbourne-based PBS Practitioner, to help them:
Make school pick up and handovers safer, calmer, and more predictable.
Build Mia’s confidence with bowel toileting.
Improve Mia’s engagement with tasks that she’s not excited about - at home and at school.
Before making any changes, Coby took steps to understand the reasons behind the behaviours.
*The participant's real name has not been used to protect her privacy.
Decoding behaviours: what is Mia trying to tell us?
Coby spent time with Mia, her mother, and her supports, and she completed a Functional Behaviour Assessment.
She noted the reasons behind the following behaviours:
Physical aggression at school pick-up / at handovers
Coby discovered that, at school pick-up, Mia was finding the busy, noisy, and unpredictable pick-up environment overwhelming. Combined with end-of-day fatigue, this was leading to physically aggressive behaviours - from lunging toward her mother or carer and grabbing their clothes to scratching and kicking or attempting to run away.
Coby observed that these behaviours were most likely to happen in crowded, noisy spaces, or when unexpected changes occurred.
Resistance to starting or following through with non-preferred tasks
When Mia was faced with high-demand tasks – schoolwork, transitions, toileting – she would often withdraw, insist on going home, or shut down completely.
Coby found that this behaviour occurred when tasks felt too hard, rushed, or unclear.
Avoidance of bowel movements on the toilet
Mia had a strong preference for using nappies over bowel movements on the toilet, particularly when having to use public toilets.
Coby learned that the anxiety surrounding bowel toileting was linked to a highly overwhelming first experience with a bowel movement in a public toilet; this situation was now associated with fear, discomfort, and a loss of control.
Achieving clarity – understanding what Mia is expressing through behaviour
Mia’s behaviours weren’t deliberate acts of misbehaviour – they were her way of communicating “this is too much”, “I’m not ready”, or “I need space”.
Through her work with Mia, Coby discovered that the behaviours were associated with a need to escape or avoid overwhelming demands and transitions. They were intensified by anxiety, sensory overload, fatigue, and previous negative experiences.
Developing strategies to help reduce behaviours of concern
After gathering information from observation and assessments, parent interviews, school staff, and Mia’s sensory profile, Coby developed a comprehensive behaviour support plan. The plan included strategies to help Mia work towards her goals, with benchmarks to measure and monitor progress.
Mia’s PBS-related goals included:
Making pick-up safer, calmer, and more predictable for her and her mum.
Reducing the intensity and frequency of physical behaviours at handover.
Supporting gentle progress and confidence with bowel toileting.
Reducing escalation by increasing Mia’s use of functional communication - the ability to better communicate her needs, wants, feelings, and ideas via a variety of methods, including speech, visuals, signs, etc.
Improving task engagement and participation, both at home and at school.
Creating consistent approaches across home, mainstream school, and specialist school.
The Intervention: Helping Mia achieve her goals
With the behaviour support plan to hand, Coby began implementing her strategies. They included:
Creating a consistent approach for improved outcomes
Coby prioritised a consistent approach to implementing recommended strategies across home and school settings. This helped to reduce mixed messages and feelings of confusion, both of which can undermine the effectiveness of the strategies.
To encourage a consistent roll-out of strategies, Coby:
Created a quick reference guide for adults to share and refer to when supporting Mia. This informed supports of the reasons behind the behaviours, the strategies recommended, and how – and when – to implement them.
Joined regular care team meetings with Mia’s parents, mainstream school staff, specialist school staff, ES staff, the Occupational Therapist, and other supports. This helped to ensure buy-in, understanding, support, and the consistent application of recommended strategies. It also gave supports the opportunity to ask questions, share challenges, and discuss progress.
Provided practical coaching to parents and staff, with sessions focusing on:
Recognising early signs of dysregulation
Using visuals to support communication efforts
Responding to behaviours consistently
Staying calm and regulated when supporting Mia
She also introduced a quick end‑of‑day “What Worked / What Didn’t” tool to improve feedback between ES staff and parents. The data collected made it faster and easier to identify strategies that were effective and highlight those that needed adjustment.
Building routines for calmer, safer pick-up times
Coby created guidelines to develop a consistent routine for Mia at pick-up and handover times. This included:
Choosing – and sticking to – a predictable meeting location, away from the level of crowding and noise that Mia found overwhelming.
A greeting practice that prioritised connection and provided Mia with “hands-busy” options to replace behaviours such as lunging, scratching, and eye-gouging.
A specific 2-3 minute calm-down practice and consistent scripts to apply post-calm-down.
Mia’s mum and her carer followed the new routine, always respecting the ‘decompression window’ and focusing on safety, connection, and regulation.
Teaching functional communication strategies to help Mia express herself in a safer way
Functional communication strategies help individuals express their needs, wants, and feelings through speech, visuals, gestures, signs, and / or assistive devices.
To help make it easier for Mia to express her needs, and to support a reduction in physical behaviours, Coby taught and reinforced short, clear phrases with matching visuals.
Through care team meetings, coaching, and within the reference guide, Coby also provided functional communication training for Mia's supports. She helped them understand the strategies that she had implemented, with guidance on how to consistently respond.
After this, the supports felt more confident acknowledging and responding to Mia’s requests and – where appropriate – assisting her through re-entry.
Introducing task and transition supports
To help make starting, completing, and transitioning to non-preferred tasks easier for Mia, Coby introduced personalised supports, including:
The use of bespoke visuals and visual sequences.
Breaking tasks into smaller sub-tasks to make them feel less overwhelming and more achievable.
Pre-teaching and previewing before transitioning to non-preferred tasks or changes.
Transition warnings.
Assigning movement / heavy work jobs to support emotional regulation during transitions.
Implementing gentle bowel toileting strategies to build confidence
To encourage progress with bowel toileting, Coby rolled out a step ladder plan that focused on building comfort, control, and predictability. Working closely with Mia’s parents, Coby also took steps to help adjust the bathroom environment – from using headphones to dampen noise to implementing softer lighting.
Reward strategies focused not only on outcomes, but also on attempts and bravery, with clear stop rules if Mia started feeling distressed, and personalised guidance on how to avoid lengthy toileting debates or high-pressure situations.
Throughout this intervention, Coby continued to provide support to Mia’s parents to help ensure the calm and consistent implementation of this strategy in their home.
Integrating regulation and sensory supports for improved emotional regulation
To help Mia build her emotional regulation skills, Coby introduced specific strategies for her to practice while she was calm. She also added visual cues about “how my body feels” to support her growing awareness. With the help of teaching staff, predictable sensory breaks were then built into her day, both at school and at home.
Mia’s parents and teaching staff were trained in post-incident recovery strategies to help her return to baseline (calm) more quickly.
Encouraging learning and self-love through the creation of a personalised storybook
Coby created an illustrated, child-friendly storybook just for Mia. The story helps her understand her big, after-school feelings, reminds her of what makes her feel safe, and celebrates her strengths and bravery.
Outcomes: did PBS help Mia achieve her NDIS goals?
The strategies that Coby implemented helped to reduce behaviours of concern and improve Mia’s quality of life. Post-intervention, Coby noted:
A significant reduction in physical behaviour at school pick-up
Before enlisting Coby’s support, Mia was experiencing physical behaviours at pick-up every day. Since the intervention, the incidents have reduced to around one per week. Now, they're typically less intense, and, using her routine, Mia can return to calm within 2 – 3 minutes.
An increased ability to use functional communication phrases and visuals to express her needs
Mia has wholeheartedly embraced the functional communication strategies Coby taught her. She now finds it much easier to communicate her feelings and needs – from taking a break to feeling overwhelmed by loud environments.
Improved capacity to stay engaged in non-preferred tasks
Mia’s capacity to stay engaged in classroom tasks has improved dramatically, thanks to the clear visuals, predictable steps, and built-in sensory breaks.
Progress with bowel toileting strategies
Parents and school staff have noted more consistent willingness to enter the bathroom and engage with the graded toileting steps and reward chart. A noticeable reduction in stress regarding bowel toileting has also been noted.
An increase in confidence and quality of life overall
Teaching staff at both schools are pleased with Mia’s progress – she is engaging well, using supports effectively, and benefitting from adjustments to her environment. They've noticed that these positive shifts have empowered her to form connections with peers and feel more confident and relaxed in her surroundings.
A positive impact on parents, family, and school staff
The intervention has positively impacted the people supporting Mia too.
Her parents report:
Feeling safer, calmer, and more confident at school pick-up. Having a clear plan has made it easier for her mum to manage challenges and support de-escalation.
Noticeably calmer home routines (after school, evenings, and toileting breaks), with fewer high-intensity incidents.
Feeling more supported and part of a team - rather than feeling isolated, blamed, or at a loss.
After seeing genuine changes in Mia’s regulation skills and behaviour, they feel an increased sense of hope.
Teaching staff and Mia’s care team benefit from having:
A clearer understanding of why behaviours occur and can confidently recall what the most helpful responses are.
Training and knowledge to assist in the consistent roll-out of recommended strategies. This helped to minimise opportunities for mixed messages and confusion, both of which can undermine the effectiveness of positive behaviour support strategies.
Stronger home-school communication, with quick feedback loops to help adjust strategies to maintain progress.
Overall, her supports feel more confident responding, and the stress and uncertainty around the behaviours of concern have decreased.
Support for NDIS participants aged 5+ who are experiencing behaviours of concern
Our team of positive behaviour support practitioners provide support for children (5+), adolescents, and adults who are experiencing behaviours of concern.
Our team members are based in Adelaide, Melbourne and Ballarat, and they adopt a neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed, and person-centred approach. Learn more about our team’s approach here.
We support NDIS participants with Improved Relationships (IR) funding - in their homes, their schools, and their local community. For NDIS participants in need of positive behaviour support, but without IR funding, we offer pre-PBS assessments.
Interested in working with Coby?
Coby provides support for participants aged 5 - 65 in Melbourne's West and North-West. You can request her support via our online NDIS referral form, or by contacting us.
Ask us a question about our NDIS services or request our support
To ask us a question or learn more about current capacity, please contact us at 1300 575 329 or at info@activ8goup.com.au. To request our support in Adelaide, Melbourne or Ballarat, fill in our online NDIS referral form.
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