When a child or young person is demonstrating behaviours that significantly limit their quality of life, our first question should not be “How do we stop the behaviour?” It should be “What has happened to this child, and what is the behaviour communicating?”
Three evidence-informed frameworks can fundamentally improve the way we answer that question.
The first is the Lundy Model of Child Participation (Lundy, 2007), which reminds us that children have a right to be heard and to have their views influence decisions that affect them. A Functional Behaviour Assessment or Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) process that does not genuinely include the child’s voice risks overlooking the very experiences that are driving the behaviour.
The second is the Cumulative Experiences Index (CEI) developed by Bryce, Collier, Harris and Toohey (2024). The CEI moves practitioners beyond viewing incidents in isolation by systematically measuring the frequency, duration and severity of accumulated adversity across a child’s life. Rather than asking whether a single event meets a threshold, the CEI assists practitioners to understand how repeated experiences of abuse, neglect, family dysfunction, trauma and disadvantage interact to shape development, emotional regulation and behaviour over time.
Finally, a well-constructed Positive Behaviour Support Plan should never be viewed as simply a behaviour management document. When informed by a comprehensive Functional Behaviour Assessment, the child’s own voice and an understanding of cumulative harm, a PBS plan becomes a framework for improving quality of life. It should focus on increasing participation, strengthening relationships, building emotional regulation, teaching replacement skills and creating environments in which children can experience success, not simply reducing behaviours of concern.
As practitioners, we have an ethical responsibility to move beyond reactive practice. By combining meaningful child participation, objective measurement of cumulative adversity through the CEI, and person-centred Positive Behaviour Support, we are far more likely to understand the child behind the behaviour and create interventions that produce sustainable, life-changing outcomes.
References
Bryce, I., Collier, S., Harris, L., & Toohey, J. (2024). Measuring accumulation: Constructing a tool for evaluating cumulative harm in children engaged with an intensive family support service. Child Abuse Review.
Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’ is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 927–942.
