Positive behaviour support (PBS) and applied behaviour analysis (ABA) share the same science, but they have different goals. ABA is a scientific field that studies how behaviour is learned. PBS grew out of ABA and added a focus on quality of life, person-centred planning and changing the environment. Under the NDIS, behaviour support plans are built on PBS.
If you are looking into behaviour support for someone you love, you will meet these 2 sets of initials fast. This guide covers positive behaviour support vs ABA in plain English. Both come from the same branch of science, and both use data. Here is what each approach is, where they overlap, where they part ways, and how the NDIS handles behaviour support in Australia.
What is the difference between positive behaviour support and ABA?
Applied behaviour analysis (ABA) is a scientific discipline. It studies how behaviour is learned, and how the world around a person shapes it. Think of it as the parent field. Positive behaviour support (PBS) grew out of that field. It kept the science and added its own values and goals, with quality of life at the centre.
So positive behaviour support vs ABA is less a contest and more a family tree. PBS draws on applied behaviour analysis as part of its evidence base. It also draws on person-centred planning and the disability inclusion movement. That mix is what makes PBS a distinct approach today. For the full picture of the approach itself, read our guide to what positive behaviour support is. Many families also search for behaviour therapy when they mean PBS.
Where did positive behaviour support and ABA come from?
ABA has been used with autistic people and people with intellectual disability since the 1960s. Some early programs were intensive. Some used aversive consequences, meaning unpleasant responses designed to stop a behaviour. Practice has changed a great deal since then, and many current ABA providers reject those older methods.
PBS grew partly as a response to that history. Researchers wanted a way of working that ruled out aversives and put a person’s quality of life at the centre. Over time PBS also took on ideas about systems and settings, including the capable environments approach.
A capable environment is one where the setting around a person supports their wellbeing. When a setting works for the person, they have less need to use behaviours of concern to get their needs met. We use the Capable Environment Framework alongside PBS in our own work.
What do positive behaviour support and ABA have in common?
PBS and ABA share a lot. Both are evidence-based and both use data to track progress. Both look at what happens just before a behaviour and what follows it, and both treat behaviour as communication about a need. Both use functional assessment and both teach skills. Here is the overlap in more detail.
- Both are evidence-based. Each has a published research base behind it.
- Both use data. Progress is tracked and measured.
- Both look at antecedents and consequences. That means what happens before a behaviour, and what happens after it.
- Both treat behaviour as meaningful. Behaviour is read as communication about an unmet need.
- Both use functional assessment. A functional behaviour assessment is a shared tool.
- Both teach skills. Communication, emotional regulation and independence all feature.
How is positive behaviour support different from ABA?
The main differences sit in goals, focus and method. PBS treats quality of life as the main goal. It looks closely at the environment around the person, and it involves the person and their family in setting goals. It is delivered in everyday settings and usually puts more of its hours into coaching the people around the person.
The goal. PBS treats quality of life as the aim. Reducing a behaviour of concern is one way to get there. Traditional ABA programs more often set behaviour change as the main target.
Who is asked to change. PBS looks closely at the world around the person. That includes the home, the classroom, the routine and the staff team. Changes to those settings are part of every PBS plan, alongside skill building for the person.
Who sets the goals. PBS planning is person-centred and family-centred. The person helps set the goals. So do the people closest to them.
Where the work happens. PBS is usually delivered in everyday settings: at home, at school, at work and in the community.
Restrictive practices. In PBS a restrictive practice is always a last resort. Where one is in place, the plan must carry a clear goal to reduce it over time and, where possible, remove it.
Intensity. Some ABA programs run many hours a week with a therapist. PBS usually uses fewer direct hours. More of the effort goes into coaching the people already in the person’s daily life.
What concerns have been raised about ABA?
Some autistic adults and advocacy groups have published concerns about parts of ABA practice, past and present. The Autism Society of America’s 2023 plain-language guide, Making Informed Decisions: ABA, lists possible harms that families should ask about. Others in the field point to research supporting early intervention.
The concerns most often raised include:
- Goals framed around compliance rather than the person’s own priorities.
- Suppressing autistic traits such as stimming, which can teach masking.
- Very high weekly hours for young children.
- The historical use of aversives.
- Questions about how a young child can meaningfully consent.
We share these views because they are part of the conversation, and families should know they exist. They are the published views of others. They do not describe every ABA program, and many practitioners in that field have changed how they work in response. The debate is ongoing. Duke University’s Center for Autism and Brain Development has reported on town halls bringing both sides together.
What we can tell you is how we work. Our practitioners look at the environment around the person first, and build the plan with the person and the people closest to them.
How does the NDIS treat positive behaviour support and ABA?
In Australia, NDIS behaviour support is regulated by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and its rules are built around positive behaviour support. The Commission sets the rules for behaviour support plans and for regulated restrictive practices. Practitioners are assessed against its Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework. ABA is available in Australia, but plans with restrictive practices must follow PBS.
Some of what you read online about positive behaviour support vs ABA comes from overseas, where the system is set up differently. This section covers the Australian rules that apply if you hold an NDIS plan.
The Commission’s Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework states that one of its aims is reducing restrictive practices and, where possible, ending them. Anyone wanting to work as an NDIS behaviour support practitioner applies to the Commission and is assessed for suitability against it.
Funding usually sits in the Capacity Building part of a plan. Older plans show this as the Improved Relationships budget. Plans under PACE, the newer NDIS computer system, show behaviour support as its own category.
ABA is available in Australia, and some families do access it. The behaviour support rules, though, are built around positive behaviour support. Some plans include a regulated restrictive practice. Those plans must be lodged with the Commission. They also have to be positive behaviour support plans, with a clear goal to reduce the practice over time and, where possible, remove it. A plan with no regulated restrictive practice does not have to be lodged.
What does a registered NDIS behaviour support practitioner do?
In practice the work runs in a clear sequence:
- Get to know the person, the family and the settings they spend time in.
- Run assessments. We use a Functional Behaviour Assessment, the QABF and a Quality of Life assessment.
- Write a behaviour support plan, an interim one first where things are urgent, then a comprehensive one.
- Train and coach the people who deliver the plan day to day.
- Review the data, then adjust what is not working.
- Work to reduce any restrictive practice already in place.
You can see how this fits together on our positive behaviour support service page and on Implementation & Review. We support people of all ages, from young children through to older people.
How do I decide between PBS and ABA for my family?
Families make different choices, and the decision is yours. Start by asking any provider the same set of questions about goals, hours, settings, progress and restrictive practices. Clear answers show you how a provider works. These questions help with any provider you speak to:
- What is the goal of this program, in the person’s own words where possible?
- Who helped set those goals?
- How many hours a week, and why that many?
- Where will the work happen?
- How is progress measured, and what happens if it is not working?
- Are any restrictive practices involved, and what is the plan to reduce them?
- Has the NDIS Commission assessed the practitioner as suitable?
Clear, specific answers to these questions tell you a lot about how a provider works.
Frequently asked questions
Is positive behaviour support the same as ABA?
Positive behaviour support and ABA are related, but they are separate approaches. PBS draws on applied behaviour analysis as part of its evidence base, and they share tools such as functional assessment. PBS then developed its own values. Its goal is quality of life, and it works on environments and systems as well as skills. NDIS behaviour support plans are built on PBS.
Is ABA funded by the NDIS?
Some families access ABA-style therapy using NDIS funding, usually through Capacity Building supports. Behaviour support plans lodged with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission need to follow positive behaviour support. If you are unsure what your own plan covers, your plan manager or support coordinator can read the wording with you and explain what is included.
Does positive behaviour support work for adults?
Positive behaviour support is used with teenagers, adults and older people, as well as children. It is delivered in homes, workplaces, supported housing and the wider community. The plan looks different for an adult, but the principles stay the same. Understand the function of the behaviour, change what surrounds the person, and build practical skills. Read more in our guide to behaviour support for adults.
Which approach focuses on reducing restrictive practices?
Reducing restrictive practices is a core goal of positive behaviour support and a stated aim of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. A restrictive practice is only ever a last resort. Where one is already in place, the behaviour support plan must include a clear goal for reducing it over time. In Australia this is a requirement for every lodged plan.
If you are weighing up your options and want to talk it through with a registered NDIS provider, we are happy to help. You can make a referral or call us.
Guided by science, driven by care.
