The African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” captures the essence of Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS). A three-step approach to working with individuals, PBIS supports:

• Promotion of positive behavior;
• Prevention of challenging behaviors; and
• Individualized behavioral interventions.

PBIS aims to promote positive behavior for all children and respond consistently to challenging behavior in all areas of a child's life, be that at home, in early learning and school settings or with community services agencies. The goal of PBIS is for us as parents, teachers, childcare providers, or agency staff to be consistent in how we teach new, acceptable behavior and respond to challenging behavior.

PBIS works as a tiered approach outline above: Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention. For Promotion, PBIS is about recognizing those children who meet and exceed our behavioral expectations. For Prevention, PBIS using data to identify at-risk behavior and teach behavior the same way we teach reading, math, or family values. With Intervention, PBIS provides an individualized approach with a team of support for the child and family, using data as the decision-maker.

PBIS is a framework for how we can better support all children. It offers the processes and tools of transformation for this to happen.