The Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support framework is a whole school tiered approach to student behaviour that focuses on desired behaviour outcomes. Adelaide West Special Education Centre staff agreed on three behavioural expectations that are positively stated, easy to remember and modelled consistently across all school environments. These are:

“I am safe”, “I am friendly” and “I am respectful”

Explicit examples of what behaviour looks like for each of these expectations are used to model preferred behaviour – creating a focus on the behaviours that we wish to see in school. The positive language associated with these expectations is embedded within the AAC systems used in school. The whole school focuses on one statement each week and reminds students of what this may look like in class lessons daily. This is reinforced by all school staff. For example, when the weekly statement was “I am safe”, “I am OK” the whole school practised the series of statements: “I am OK”, “I can calm down”, “I can take deep breaths” during the end of the day assembly every day.