A Parramatta Behaviour Support Practitioner will initially come out to meet the participant who requires behaviour support intervention or a Behaviour Support Plan.

The first step involves the practitioner completing a thorough Functional Behaviour Assessment to identify the participant's behaviours of concern and note them all down. The practitioner communicates directly with the participant, as well as the people who spend the most time with them, family, support workers and the broader Parramatta support team.

Once the behaviours of concern have been identified, the practitioner will determine which additional assessments the people around the participant may need to complete.

From there, the practitioner writes a behaviour assessment report detailing the relevant behaviours of concern. They then develop a Behaviour Support Plan that provides clear guidance on how to best support and respond to those behaviours across the participant's everyday environments.

Behaviours of concern almost always serve a purpose for the person. They might be communicating an unmet need, expressing distress when something feels overwhelming, responding to a sensory environment that is too much, or signalling that a routine has changed in a way the person cannot articulate. The job of behaviour support is to understand what the behaviour is communicating, then build the skills, environment and support around it so the participant has better ways to meet that need.

For Parramatta participants, PBS is typically delivered through scheduled face-to-face practitioner visits in the home, school, or community, supported by telehealth sessions in between for plan implementation and review work with family and support workers. Sessions are flexible to accommodate the participant's routine and the realities of working with Parramatta families across diverse cultural backgrounds.