Positive behavioural support for children and young people with developmental disabilities in special education settings: A systematic review.

Beqiraj et al. (2022) looked at 30 studies of Positive Behavioural Support in special-education classrooms. They wanted to know if PBS really cuts challenging behaviour and teaches replacement skills to students with developmental disabilities or intellectual disability.

The team pulled every paper that tested full PBS in a separate special-ed school or classroom. They then counted whether each study reported drops in problem behaviour and gains in new skills.

Across the 30 studies, challenging behaviour went down and alternative behaviours went up whenever authors measured both. The positive pattern held for kids with autism, global delay, or intellectual disability.

But most studies skipped at least one of the nine core PBS steps. Few teams wrote about lifestyle goals, data-based decision rules, or long-term follow-up.

Carr et al. (2002) and Dunlap et al. (2008) warned that PBS is simply ABA wearing a team-based coat. Beqiraj’s findings back them up: the successful classroom plans used the same functional assessment and reinforcement tactics behaviour analysts already know.

Nitz et al. (2023) reviewed elementary MTSS and also saw clear behaviour gains. Their MTSS papers overlap with PBS studies, showing the same tier-one and tier-two ideas work whether you call it MTSS or PBS.

Cruz-Montecinos et al. (2024) moved PBS to parents of toddlers with FASD at home. Kids still improved, proving PBS travels beyond the school walls that Beqiraj focused on.

If you run or consult in special-ed classrooms, this review gives you confidence to keep using PBS. You can show administrators the evidence stack and ask for the staffing needed to finish all nine components. Push for data meetings, lifestyle goals, and follow-up probes so your plan does not stop at behaviour reduction but builds durable, useful skills.