School-Wide Strategies

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often require special support with developing socially appropriate behaviours. For more information about the many reasons that behaviours of concern can arise for students with ASD, click here.

Students with ASD benefit from:

• clear teaching of expected behaviour,
• predictable, consistent behavioural expectations from all staff ,
• rewards for appropriate behaviour, and
• predictable, consistent responses to behaviour from all staff.

These are all features of the School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support approach. All government schools in Victoria are moving towards implementing a School-Wide Positive Behavioural Support model in accordance with Department of Education and Early Childhood Development requirements.

School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support is a framework for schools which emphasises:

• staff agreement about what is appropriate student behaviour
• teaching students how to behave appropriately
• recognising and rewarding students who make positive behavioural choices
• consistent approach to behaviour by all staff
• creating targeted approaches for students who require more support
• gathering data and using this evidence to support decision-making.

 The framework divides the student population into three groups:

A school-wide positive behaviour approach requires all school staff to agree on the best way to respond to both appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. The staff have shared language about appropriate behaviour, and respond to student behaviour in a consistent, predictable way. The structure, consistency and predictability of this approach is particularly helpful for students with ASD. This is because students with ASD require clear instruction about social skills and behaviour, and have a strong preference for routine and predictability.