Behaviour support plans explained: what they are and how they get written

If someone has suggested you need a behaviour support plan, the words themselves can land badly. They can sound like a document about what is wrong with you.

A good behaviour support plan is close to the opposite. It is a document about what is causing distress, and what would need to change so there is less of it.

Here is what one actually involves.

What a behaviour support plan is

A behaviour support plan sets out why behaviours of concern are happening and what everyone around the person should do differently.

The starting point is that behaviour is communication. Someone who lashes out in the shower may be in pain, cold, frightened, or unable to say that the water is too hot. The plan looks for that cause rather than managing the symptom.

Most plans cover four things:

• What is happening — the behaviours of concern, described plainly and specifically
• Why it is happening — what the assessment found about triggers, unmet needs, environment, health and communication
• What to change — preventative strategies that reduce the likelihood of distress in the first place
• What to do in the moment — responsive strategies that keep everyone safe when distress does occur

The bulk of a good plan is prevention. If a plan is mostly about what to do once things have escalated, it has not done the work.

There is no age limit

Positive behaviour support is available to children, young people and adults. It is not a children’s service, and it is not a last resort for adults.

We say this explicitly because it costs people support. Families sometimes assume behaviour support stops at 18, and adults sometimes assume it is only for children.

Who is allowed to write one

Not anyone. An NDIS behaviour support plan must be developed by an NDIS behaviour support practitioner — a person the NDIS Commissioner considers suitable to undertake behaviour support assessments, including functional behavioural assessments, and to develop plans that may contain restrictive practices.

If a provider offers to write you a behaviour support plan, it is fair to ask who the practitioner is and whether they are recognised by the Commission. Ask before work starts, not after.

The timeframes that apply

These are set, and worth knowing so you can hold a provider to them.

An interim behaviour support plan must be developed within 1 month of the specialist behaviour support provider being engaged.

An interim plan is deliberately short. It contains general preventative and responsive strategies designed to keep the person and others safe, describes the behaviours of concern clearly, and includes protocols to follow to minimise the risk of harm. It exists so that nobody is left unsupported during the months it takes to do a proper assessment.

A comprehensive behaviour support plan must be developed within 6 months of engagement.

The comprehensive plan follows a full functional behavioural assessment. That assessment takes time because it should involve observing the person in the settings where the behaviour occurs, talking to the people around them, reviewing health and medication, and ruling out physical causes such as pain, dental problems or constipation before behavioural explanations are accepted.

Six months can feel slow. It is slow because rushing it produces a plan that manages behaviour instead of addressing its cause.

Restrictive practices, and what happens in WA

This is the part that most needs explaining plainly.

A restrictive practice is anything that restricts a person’s rights or freedom of movement. The regulated ones are:

• Seclusion — leaving someone alone in a room they cannot leave
• Chemical restraint — medication used to influence behaviour rather than to treat a diagnosed condition
• Physical restraint — using physical force to restrict movement
• Mechanical restraint — a device used to restrict movement
• Environmental restraint — restricting free access to the environment, such as locking a fridge or a gate

Some of these are already happening in homes without anyone using the word. A locked pantry, a bedroom door held shut, a nightly sedative given to settle someone. If any of that is in place, it needs to be named, assessed and authorised — not quietly continued.

In Western Australia, the State Government is responsible for authorising regulated restrictive practices, through the Department of Communities. WA operates under government policy rather than legislation, and the Department has been developing legislation to replace it. Your practitioner should be able to explain the current authorisation process as it applies to your situation.

Separately, a behaviour support plan that includes regulated restrictive practices must be lodged with the NDIS Commission.

The aim across all of it is reduction and elimination over time. A plan that authorises a restrictive practice should also set out what needs to change so it is no longer needed.

What the process feels like

Referral and engagement. You or your support coordinator makes contact. The practitioner confirms what funding is in place.

Interim plan within a month. Short, practical, keeps people safe now.

Assessment. The practitioner spends time with you, the people who support you, and often your family. They will want to see the settings where things go wrong. They will ask about health, sleep, pain, medication and communication.

Comprehensive plan within six months. Written, then explained to everyone who needs to follow it.

Training and implementation. A plan nobody has been trained in does not work. Support workers, family and anyone else implementing it should be taken through it.

Review. Plans are living documents. They should change as the person does.

Who does what

Clear roles prevent a lot of frustration.

• You — set the direction. What matters to you, what you want more of, what you want to stop
• The behaviour support practitioner — assesses, writes the plan, trains people in it, reviews it
• Support workers — implement the strategies consistently and record what happens
• Family or next of kin — provide history and context, and are often the ones implementing at home
• Support coordinator — arranges the funding and keeps the pieces connected

Where a restrictive practice is involved, the practitioner is also responsible for the reduction plan.

Getting started

Our registered behaviour support practitioner works with people across Mandurah, the Peel Region and the South West — children, young people and adults.

If you are not sure whether you have the right funding for behaviour support, or whether behaviour support is the right thing at all, call and ask. We will tell you honestly if it is not.

Call 0410 560 769 or make a referral. We reply within 24 hours.

You may also want to read about positive behaviour support or how NDIS funding works.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a behaviour support plan take?

An interim plan must be developed within 1 month of the specialist behaviour support provider being engaged. A comprehensive plan must be developed within 6 months.

Who can write one?

An NDIS behaviour support practitioner — someone the NDIS Commissioner considers suitable to undertake behaviour support assessments and develop plans that may contain restrictive practices.

What is the difference between interim and comprehensive?

An interim plan is short and keeps everyone safe while the full assessment happens. A comprehensive plan follows a complete functional behavioural assessment.

Is behaviour support only for children?

No. There is no age limit. It is available to children, young people and adults.

What counts as a regulated restrictive practice?

Seclusion, chemical restraint, physical restraint, mechanical restraint and environmental restraint. In WA these must be authorised by the State Government.

Does the plan get lodged anywhere?

A behaviour support plan that includes regulated restrictive practices must be lodged with the NDIS Commission.

This article explains the general framework. Rules and authorisation processes change, so check current guidance at ndiscommission.gov.au and, for WA authorisation, the Department of Communities at wa.gov.au.